The Reapers' Nightmare
by Annadrujok
Summary: Nothing good can happen when the Queen of the Underworld and her demon friend decide to become grim reapers. Especially if no one knows who they are! Only a lot of overtime, broken glasses, and accidental disaters! Nothing bad, like oh, I don't know, buring down the library by accident, or tormenting their guides! No, no, absolutely nothing bad can happen at all!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know what you're all thinking: ****_another_**** story? You still have a few others to update! And that's perfectly true. However, unlike the others, this one isn't on paper, so I'm much more motivated to type. I don' t think there'll be any pairings. Just humor. I'll admit, this first chapter isn't that funny. It's more of a prologue, actually. Enjoy! And please, at least give this story a chance. It gets much better later on, this is just more of an introductory chapter. So at least read the first...2 chapters, at least. Please?**

_Day 1_

_Being how this is a new notebook, I'll explain the basics. My name is Shonan Nazo. I have a sister, Hay-Lin, but she's just a braniac. No need to learn about her now. I am the Queen of the Underworld, though I leave most of the duties to Hades, including taking care and managing the pesky souls. I take care of the beasts, but they usually just do their own thing, leaving me to explore different places. Now let me explain. This was not my choice. I am not all-powerful. I don't necessarily like this job. Which is the reason I usually leave it to the others. The only reason I'm the queen is because I just so happen to host both a demon and a monster (one of the tailed beasts, to be exact. Even better, yay.) Neither was my choice. Chi no Akuma, the demon, is quite nice. Just like me, though a bit more perverted. She's been with me since my birth 18 years ago. Kurama no Biju, the monster, has been with me since I was 2 years old, when I accidentally interfered in a sealing ritual. I got the evil half. I'm not a nice person because of them. But that's only when I'm angry. Chi has grown to be like a best friend to me, Kurama like an older brother. There are times when I forget that he's there, actually. He's always really quiet, and doesn't do anything unless I'm furious. And now another matter to be cleared up. I'm sure you've all heard of Sebastian Michaelis, haven't you? He's not a demon. All demons are female. Opposite for monsters. Think of a chicken. Chicken is a general term, like beast, hen is for females, like demon, and rooster is for males, like monster. See? Easy. Sebastian is what we call a "New Demon." A few centuries ago, under the old king, a group of beasts decided to rebel and break away from the normal beasts and underworld. They shut themselves off from us, becoming an entirely new species. As the generations passed, the normal underworld wasn't mentioned at all, until it became forgotten by them. Now, where am I going with this, you ask? Hehe, I should get to the point, shouldn't I? Chi and I are going to be going to the headquarters of the Grim Reapers, to see if we could become like them. Since they guard all the souls with astute care, hating demons for stealing them away, it has become hard for Chi to have a decent meal. She's been attracting a bit of attention from those reapers lately, and it's becoming ahrd to avoid them. We want to have easy access. I want to bug the reapers, she wants the souls. So, we're going to steal them right out from the silly little reapers' noses. On missions to get their cinematic records, Chi can just take the souls instead! We've heard that there's a test, an entrance exam of sorts, to become a reaper. So, if we get to at least be accepted to take the test and become reapers-in-training, we pretty much get an all-you-can-eat buffet. Out first task, find the Shinigami offices. However, to do that, we'll need false names to enter. We don't want our names to ring any bells, now do we? I'll be going by the name Storm_ _Whiston, and Chi shall be called Crimson Chattoway._

I shut my new notebook. Well, that was long. Hopefully, I'll never have to write that much again!

"Chi, I'm ready to leave!" Chi, peeked through the doorway, took one look at me, and 'tsk'ed in humor, shaking her head. When she was fully in the room, I saw her outfit. "Chi! Whatever are you wearing!" I exclaimed.

"Nothing more than is to be expected. We need to blend in, remember? And I sure as hell won't wear a dress! So, this is my only option." She was wearing a dark brown suit, not too formal, but not too poor, either. She had a black shirt under the vest, and black shoes. I noticed the heels and smirked.

"Still need some feminity, though, huh?"

"I'm still taller than you, though. Here, take this. You can't very well go to London dressed like that." I frowned. I wasn't that short! Was it so strange for an 18 year old to be 5'1"? …On second thought, don't answer that. Chi handed me a navy blue version of her outfit, the only difference was that the shirt was white instead of black.

"It's so formal!" I whined.

"It _is_ the Victorian era, what do you expect?"

"Me to be able to use my katana…" Chi sighed. She was right. I was hopeless.

"What about your hair? Electric blue with black streaks stands out, you know."

"Leave my strange hair alone! It's not like black with red tips is any better! Besides, isn't there a weird reaper who has blood-red hair? If I wear a hat, I should be fine!"

"Okay then. Off to the center of London, then! All we have to do is wait at a place likely to have someone die!"

"A dark alley maybe? Lots of people get killed there!" I offered.

"Wonderful! Now put on your British accent, and let's go!" She cried, running ahead. I laughed, and followed her.

Luckily for us, we didn't have to wait long. After only half an hour of waiting, a man with a knife ran into our alley, chasing a frightened young girl. Well, not too young. Mid thirties, if I had to guess…Chi and I watched in utter delight as the murder unfolded. Don't judge us. Chi, seeing the mass amounts of blood, licked her lips. "not now, Chi!" I whispered. "We're here to find a Grim repaer, not have a snack! As hungry as I am…" We both sighed.

"Well, well? What do we have here? Two young girls at the scene of a murder? Oddly dressed, at that…" A tall man with short, neatly combed dark brown hair, yellowish-green eyes, rectangle-shaped glasses with four lines on each side of the frames, and a strange pruning pole loomed above us. He was dressed in a black suit, tie, black gloves, and dress shoes.

"Are you a Grim Reaper?" I asked. The man's eyes narrowed.

"How do you know that word?" he asked.

"We've come looking for you! We want to become Grim reapers, just like you, mister!" I said, smiling brightly.

"Indeed! We wish to be able to put justice in this harsh world! Justice to the dead, so they don't end up being eaten by those nasty demons!" Chi lied through her teeth, also smiling. The man sighed, using his pruning pole to push up his glasses. "This'll cost me overtime, I'm sure…Allow me to finish off this young lady and I'll take you to the Shinigami offices. Chi and I smiled.

"Thank you, Mr. Gardener!" We cried. Chi shares my liking for odd nicknames. They make the world go round! As soon as the grim reaper had completed his task, he turned to us.

"My name is William T. Spears. May I ask what you two are called?"

"I'm Crimson, and this is Storm. May I ask why you carry around that pruning pole? It seems like a big bother, if you ask me…" Chi answered.

"Well I didn't ask you. And to answer your question, it's my death scythe, not a pruning pole."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Gardener!" I smiled.

"Names?" The lady at the desk asked in a monotonous voice. I was sick of her already.

"Storm Whiston and Crimson Chattoway" I said, pointing at myself and Chi, respectively. I'll spare you the rest of the questions, as they are boring and have no meaning. All the answers were made up, anyways. The lady nodded when she was finished, stamped the large stacks of papers beside her, and handed us two pairs of identical glasses.

"Congratulations, you're now novice Grim Reapers." Joy. "Please report to this room to meet your guides and begin your tour of the facilities." She said, pointing to a location on the map. We nodded, took it, and began down the hall. I took one look at the map, decided it was a maze, and handed it to Chi.

"You're navigator!"

"Oh, all right then…"

_Hooray! We've made it in! We're now official novice shingami! We've passed the first test of many. Soon, we'll meet out guides, annoy the crap out of them, get the tour, ditch them, and be on out merry way! Too bad these glasses are so hideous, though. It's an insult to someone who's vision is as perfect as mine!_

_~Shonan Nazo_

**A/N: So, how was it? Virtual cookies to anyone who can guess who their guides are! I've had this ida in my head for a while, now. Steal it and You're dead. I'm also here to help prove that a good Kuroshitsuji fanfic doesn't require Ciel or Sebastian. Especially not as main characters! Or the Trancy brat and his butler, either! I may put in some other less-noticed characters later, but I'm not sure. See you till next time! I seem to be losing readers, and I'm not sure why.** **If you're worried about the main characters, they're definately going to be in the story, they just won't be the major, plot-rotates-around-them characters. I like to focus on the lesser characters, like Drocell, the triplets, Snake, Ronald, Pluto, etc.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'll be switching POVs every chapter between Shonan and Chi. You'll be able to tell because at the top it'll say either 'Shonan's Notebook' or 'Chi's Journal'. **

_Chi's Journal_

_Day 1.5_

_It's official. We are lost. L. O. S. T. Lost. Stupid map, it's like a giant maze! It's not helping at all! At least I have it…if Shonan had it, we'd be even more lost than we already are…if that's even possible…_

"Where to next?" Shonan asked. I looked up from the map. Great, an intersection.

"Um…turn right, I think…" Shonan veered left. "Your _other_ right, dummy." Shonan grinned sheepishly.

"Right, I knew that! Yep, totally knew that!" She laughed, correcting herself. We wandered down the hall until we came to a stop before a large wooden door. We glanced at each other. I slowly opened it, aware that it could be dangerous. My breath hitched when I gazed inside. There were shelves upon shelves of beautiful blue books, all lined up neatly. "Wow! They have a library! I'll go find the mangas!" Shonan cried. I was about to stop her, when a lean man with long grey hair (including a few braids throughout) worn so as to hide his eyes stepped in front of her. His eyes were the typical color of Shinigami eyes, a bright yellow green. He had a noticeable scar across his face, neck, and left pinky finger and long black fingernails. He wore all black, including an incredibly long, black top hat, and a long, grey scarf across his chest, with it knotted by his hips. Shonan leaped back in surprise.

"What are two little girls like you doing here?" he asked, giggling. Shonan winced.

"Call me little one more time, I dare you…" she growled.

"Shonan, relax. He's just a senile old man." I said. I smirked when the man twitched. I glanced behind him, eager to see the rest of the library, when I caught sight of a statue of a shinigami. Could that be…I turned to the man. "Is that a statue of you?" I asked.

"Why yes indeed! Observant girl, aren't you?" he tittered. I twitched. A person like that should not make those sounds…I backded away when he sniffed me.

"W-what the hell! Creep!" I stammered. Shonan laughed at my dismay.

"You smell odd…It's a scent I recognize, but I can't put my finger on why…" Shonan and I exchanged a look. "And your eyes are oddly colored, as well…let me guess, you're new recruits?"

"Yep! And we're completely and utterly lost~!" Shonan smiled. I blinked. The undertaker giggled. I shuddered. Still not right!

"You two are different. I like you. I'll guide you to your destination. Where are you supposed to be going?"

"The lady at the desk told us to go to room 456" I told him. Who exactly was this creep, anyways? He laughed.

"You poor, poor souls, to be stuck with those two…" I tried to ask him what he meant, but he wouldn't tell us any more.

"Here you are, room 456!" the man grinned. We thanked him and opened the door.

"You're late." growled a voice from inside the room. Shonan's eyes brightened and she glomped the man.

"Mr. Gardener! Does this mean you're out guide!" I, as well as the other students, stared at her in shock. Will seemed to be too surprised to even speak.

"What do you think you're doing, little girl!" another voice cried. A man, or at least, I _think_ it was a man, with long red hair pried Shonan off.

"Greeting my new guide! What do you think you're doing, lady?" Shonan retorted.

"Saving Will from the likes of you!" the creature cried. The two soon began arguing, giving everyone a headache. Great, not even five minutes in the room, and she's already found an enemy. Will cleared his throat. The two stopped fighting. "Now that everyone's here, we may begin. But first, the rules. Using one's Death Scythe without permission is forbidden. Modifying one's Death Scythe without following proper procedures is forbidden. Killing people not on the death or soul collection list is forbidden. Coming to the human world to meddle with life or death matters is forbidden. Shinigami must never remove their glasses as it is a part of their uniforms. Shinigami must take care of their Death Scythes. Sundry expenses must be settled at the end of the month. Giving any information about the deceased concerning their death (their murderer, circumstances, cause of death, etc.) to humans is forbidden. And last, but not least, fighting amongst each other is forbidden." He sent a pointed glare at Shonan and the red-haired thing. Shonan grinned. Will beckoned for the red-haired thing. "This is Grell Sutcliff. He is the other instructor. Follow his instructions as you would mine." Grell smirked.

"Oh, William, you're so kind!" Grell cried, attempting to hug Will, who just stepped aside, allowing Grell to crash into the floor. Shonan looked torn between being appalled or bursting out laughing. She chose to laugh. Grell glared at her. "You just got lucky, brat!" he protested, getting up. William sighed.

"Stop that foolishness, Grell." He turned to address us, the students. There were 6 of us in this batch. "Since there are more of you than usual, we will be splitting you up into two groups. Half with Grell, half with myself. It's bad enough with just Grell, but we also seem to have a few rowdy students this batch…" Of course, get rid of the people who don't have a stick shoved up their ass…pardon my language.

In the end, Shonan and I ended up with another student in a group with Grell. Who else totally saw that coming? Grell took us to another room, just to the right of the one we were just in. He pointed to the rooms across the hall.

"The room on the left is the girls' dormitory, the one on the right is for the boys. Now go to your rooms, and take the rest of the day off." He commanded us. We were a bit confused, but did as we were told. Luckily, Shonan and I were the only girls in this batch, so we had the room to ourselves. I sat down on the edge of the bed.

"So, what do you think of our guide?" I asked Shonan.

"An eccentric red monstrosity that happens to be gay. Not much else to say. Oh! It also reminds me of lovesick puppy." She said, flopping down onto the bed beside mine. I laughed. Only she could say something like that so carelessly! Suddenly, said 'Red Monstrosity' burst into the room, startling Shonan and I.

"How dare you talk about me like that!" he cried, indignant. I leapt backwards by at least a foot.

"DUDE! Ever heard of knocking!" I cried.

"Why are you here?" Shonan asked, eyes narrowed.

"I'd forgotten to ask your names, as well as tell you to meet up in the room tomorrow by 6 AM."

"Storm and Crimson. Use your logic to figure out which is which, but please leave soon before we are forced to hurt you." I threatened. I tend to get badly tempered when disturbed.

"Okay, okay, sheesh! I'm leaving! But don't think you can defeat me. I am, after all, a certified grim reaper!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just remember, Mr. Lady," Grell twitched "don't rub a cat the wrong way. If you can remember that, we'll give you much less of a hard time." Shonan said, also getting slightly irritated. "And always knock!" Grell held up his hands in surrender and left.

"Bad mannered chap, isn't he?" I asked.

"Quite."

_And so, that concludes our first day as new grim reapers. Tomorrow, we're supposed to get the grand tour. It should've been today, but Grell was too lazy to take us on the tour. Can't say I blame him, though. We can be quite a handful at times. Unfortunately, it's summer, so Shonan will be a bit grumpy from either too much or too little sleep. It'll be fun for pranks, however. I must be going now, however. Shonan's yelling at me to turn the lamp off. Apparently, it's too bright for her 'poor, helpless eyes that wish for nothing more than a good nap!' So, I bid thee farewell. I'll see you next time._

_~Chi_

**A/N: be grateful! 2 updates in a week! Guess who they meet next chapter? virtual cookies to those who can guess!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Shonan's Notebook_

_Day 2_

_NO. Just no. There is no way I'm getting up at 5 am._

"Shooonaaaan~, come on, we're gonna be late! Ms. Grell said we have to be there at 6 am!" Chi called/whined, trying, and failing I should add, to wake me up.

"Then why try and wake me up at this ungodly hour of the morning?" I moaned, burying my face in my pillow.

"Don't give me that shit. You don't even believe in any gods. Besides, I need at least an hour to get ready!" Chi said matter-of-factly.

"No. Me no wake up till 8, at minimum!" I complained.

"Fine then, no fish and chips for you this morning!" Chi taunted. I lifted my head tiredly.

"All right, all right! I'm up!" I glared.

"I highly doubt that. So, in you go!" Chi cried, suddenly shoving me into the freezing cold shower she'd prepared earlier, clothes and all. Needless to say, I screamed bloody murder. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke everyone up with that scream… When I finally removed myself from that freezing nightmare, I was ready to rip Chi's freaking head off. Instead, I took the pacifist answer and wrapped myself in the bed sheets, pursuing warmth. I sat there, probably looking like a sorry bundle of…of…well, I'm not quite sure what, maybe a penguin, glaring at Chi with all the loathing in the world. She should know I hate water! 'Specially the ice-cold kind!

She was right when she said she'd take an hour, though she took a bit longer. At exactly 6:30 sharp, she was ready to go. We stepped in the room, where Mr, Ms, whatever the heck Grell was waiting for us impatiently. There was a guy there as well, about out age, if I had to guess. Then again, I'm bad at judging ages, so don't take my word for it.

"Who's that?" I whispered to Chi, pointing at the guy. He had yellow-green eyes and short, blond hair that was dyed black in the bottom half of his hair. He styled his hair in a wavy fashion, bringing a cowlick to the top right. I laughed upon seeing it. He had a watch on his right wrist, the strange guy. Didn't he know you're supposed to wear them on your left hand?

"That's the other newbie from yesterday, remember?" Chi whispered back.

"oh yeah! I remember now!...Sorta…" I whispered back. Grell cleared their throat. Chi looked up, uninterested. I just stood there, trying to remember his name.

"Why are you two late? We were supposed to begin the tour half an hour ago, but thanks to you two, we had to wait. Now we might end up missing breakfast because of you two!" Grell chided us. My eyes widened in horror.

"Miss breakfast!? Oh, I'm so sorry! How can I make it up to you, Mr. Teacher-person and friend? Speaking of which, what's the other guy's name, anyways?" I apologized.

"Miss breakfast? What time's it, anyways?" Chi asked.

"Breakfast is at seven, at least, if we wish to see my dear sweet Will, that is!" Grell fawned.

"Which we don't…" Chi muttered to me. I laughed quietly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guy make his way over to us, presumably to introduce himself, though I kept my guard up.

"Hey there, I'm Ronald, Ronald Knox. Pleasure to meet 'cha! And don't worry about being late, I myself just got here ten minutes ago…" he confessed sheepishly.

"Ah, I see! Nice to meet you! Just give me a bit, and I'll have a nickname for you, too! As for why we were late, my friend here," I shot a pointed glare at Chi, "decided it would be fun to take an eternity to get ready, and wake me up in the freakin' process!" I said, semi-cheerily. Ronald just laughed.

"And your names are…" he prompted.

"Ah, that's right! I almost forgot! I'm Storm Whiston, and this is Crimson Chattoway!" I answered.

"I can answer for myself, you know!" Chi protested.

"yeah, yeah…" I waved her off. I don't _mean_ to be rude, I just am! Chi just rolled her eyes, used to my behavior by now. Suddenly, the three of us were hit by a wave of near-frozen water, shocking us into a state of frozen attention. "Oh, come _on!_ That's the second time today! Do you people _enjoy_ seeing me suffer or something?!" I shrieked. If someone wasn't awake yet, they'd probably be now… See, the cold and I don't exactly get along… Chi was laughing through her shivers, as was Ronald.

"Focus, you three! We need to go and get a good breakfast if we're to get a tour of this place!" Grell snapped at us. We nodded. I was a bit surprised that he was actually doing their job for once, though… And yes, I am, by this point, aware that our teacher is a guy. I heard Mr. Farmer call Grell a he, so, I'm using that as my basis. Still fun to tease Grell 'bout it, though!

Well, breakfast was pretty uneventful, if you don't count Grell and Ronald's astonishment at my appetite…In my defense, I have a very high metabolism which requires me to eat more to stay in shape! Sounds controversial, I know. I just happen to get a bit…hyperactive sometimes, which then results in getting exhausted, well, more like hungry, a lot sooner, and why the heck am I explaining any of this to you? You don't need to know this! Leaveth, oh stalkers of mine!

"Ch-Crimson~," I whined, "my paranoid imagination's making me explain myself again!~"

"Too bad, now shush, It looks like our feminine friend wishes to say something" she chided me. I pouted, my ego deflating a bit. Sure, just go ahead and pay more attention to the more-feminine-than-most-women guy who's supposed to show us around! Actually, that might make sense…I turned my attention back to Grell.

"And this is the Admin Department. They process the retrieved souls. Next to them is the HR Department, who're in charge of human resources within the Dispatch. Next to _them_ is General Affairs Department, who manage the death scythes. This is out next stop." Grell said, leading us through the various departments. I bet I'll forget them within five minutes. Our little group stopped at the front desk. "Hello," Grell greeted the secretary, "I'm here to retrieve three novice death scythes for my students, if you will" he stated. The secretary looked over Grell's shoulder at us and shook her head sadly.

"Poor things, to be stuck with him as a mentor…well, in any case, here they are, Mr. Sutcliff" she said, pulling three small scythes out of a drawer. Now, when I say scythes, I mean like little mini wheat-cutting scythes, only about a foot and a half long. Pretty sad, if you ask me. I took mine and stared at it in a state of semi-shock, just plain surprised. Ronald, who still needs a nickname, by the way, nonchalantly tucked it into his belt. Chi, after studying it for a moment, quickly followed suit, nudging me in the side to do the same, so I did. Grell handed the secretary back the signed paperwork and came back to us to continue the tour. Huh, who knew? Grell can do paperwork! He then lead us to the Reaper Department, which, according to Grell, is where they actually retrieve the souls. Our next big stop was the Glasses Department.

"This is where anything and everything pertaining to a shinigami's precious glasses takes place! Without this place, we'd all be a mess!" I gasped as I stepped through the door, taking in the scenery. All the walls were lined with glasses, eyesight charts, workers, and more glasses. Now, I'd say I have a severe lack of peripheral vision and can sometimes be clumsy, but I have otherwise perfect vision! And Chi's is even better than mine! At least she's never run into walls…or doorframes, or the doors themselves, or…yeah, you get the idea. I don't like inanimate objects, and they don't like me. We've got a pretty mutual hate-hate relationship. I tuned back in as Grell started fangirling about butterflies or something. I decided to see what was going on. Grell was fawning over an old man, some 40-50ish years old, if I had to guess, who had fairly grayish-brown hair with a white streak, the stereotypical glasses, and green-yellow eyes. He was hunched over a machine, fixing a pair of glasses. He was apparently the director of the department, Lawrence Anderson, if Grell's ranting was anything to go by. Ronald stared at him and his 'mastery of the art' in awe. Apparently the glasses were a pretty big deal to these Shinigami…Though I don't know why…

"Tch, how come some stupid glasses are such a big deal? It's not like they're magical or anything!" Chi complained. Grell and Ronald gasped in shock, while the old man shot us a chilling glare, causing me to shrink. Chi, however, stood up to him, a defiant rebel. "You think some shitty glasses are so great, huh, old man? Then tell me just what it is that makes some useless pieces of glass so terribly important!" She challenged. By now, everyone in the department was silent, as if everyone, even the building itself, was holding it's breath in suspense. The old man pushed his chair back and stood up.

"These glasses symbolize Shinigami themselves! Don't you dare badmouth them! The very process of making them has to be imbedded with love at every step, turning the making of 'some stupid glasses' as you called them, a very art! You must refine the lenses, and find the perfect prescription for each Shinigami! Each pair is different, none has a match in the world! Even removing them is a drastic crime, against Shinigami themselves, as well! Speaking of which, why aren't you and your blue-haired friend wearing your glasses?" he exploded.

"'Cause we don't need them , got a problem with that?" Chi countered. The old man scoffed.

"Huh, I'd like to see that!"

"Fine then!"

"Then let us allow science to test this!" He sounded skeptical that anyone could have 20-20 vision. He lead Chi to one chart and his worker lead me to another. The charts were odd. They had rings on them, with a section missing either on the top, bottom, right, or left. Other than that, they looked like perfectly normal charts. The worker had me go through and tell him where the hole was in each of the rings he pointed to. I only missed one, and that was because I accidentally got distracted. I almost missed the first few for saying 'north' and 'south', but then I realized what I was doing wrong. Almost missed a few more since I can't always tell left from right and often get them confused. Just ask anyone that knows me for over a week…So yeah. Overall, I did pretty well. Like I said, not perfect vision, but almost. If they were testing for peripheral vision, I'd probably have a negative 8 or so in either eye…fortunately for me, that wasn't the case. The examiner lead me back to the middle, a baffled expression on his face. The old man returned moments later, looking utterly defeated. "At the very least, wear glasses with transparent lenses…" he offered weakly. I decided to speak before Chi could speak up.

"Okay then! Thank you, sir, for understanding!" I nodded, heading back to our group. The chatter in the room gradually returned, though it seemed to be a bit stunted.

"Jeez, formal much?" Chi asked me.

"I had to be!" I defended.

"You two…you're stranger than I'd first believed…" Ronald muttered.

"And there's a problem with that?" I asked, tiling my head slightly to the side.

"ah! Oh, no! Not at all! It's perfectly fine, by all means! I'm just not used to people like you, that's all!" he hastily responded.

"Ah, okay then!" I smiled.

"Well then, your little charade has left us with just enough time to visit the second most important part of the Shinigami Dispatch Society, the Library!" Grell explained, leading us out the door and down a couple hallways. We walked for a bout fifteen minutes before reaching the familiar wooden door that guarded the massive library. "This is where we store all of the souls' cinematic records we've ever collected, each one with its own book!"

"So that's why I couldn't find any mangas, or even novels…they're not actual books…" I muttered. I noticed Chi's eyes light up. Huh, seems like this place has just piqued her interest…Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone I hoped I'd never have to run into again. "Oh, god, no. Please, anyone but him…" I whispered, backing up a bit. He hadn't noticed me yet, maybe he wouldn't-

"Why hello there~!" The man suddenly popped up in front of Grell, startling all of us. I 'eep'ed. "C-Crimson, hide me!" I meekly cried, trying to hide behind Chi. I need to remember her alias. That's the second time today I almost call her Chi…

"Oh yes! I'd almost forgotten! This distasteful lump is the Undertaker. As you can see by the statue in front of us, he used to be the best Reaper there was, but now he's been reduced to…this…" I got over my surprise once I got a good look at the Undertaker. He seemed to have a scar hidden under his hair, and that made me curios. Was he horribly disfigured? Mutilated in any way? Is that why he's become what he is? Disregarding the others, I 'hmph'ed and strutted up to the Undertaker. "You don't scare me!" I declared, going up onto my tip-toes and pushing his bangs up, surprising everyone with my sudden action. I couldn't help but notice Grell slowly turning red, though I couldn't understand why. I wilted, disappointed. He looked just like a normal human, minus the creepy grin. The moment I turned away to return to Chi, Grell flew to the Undertaker, as if drawn by a magnet, and latched onto him like a leech. A really, really, red leech. I stared at him, slightly revolted. "Take me!" He exclaimed, hugging the Undertaker, whose bangs had fallen back to their original position, his grin only faltering a little. Forget what I said. Very revolted. Good thing for Grell he looks so feminine, but either way, this isn't normal! Ronald looked slightly disturbed, and Chi has turned away slightly when she'd seen the Undertaker's face.

"Like what you see~?" he asked generally. Chi's slightly red cheeks deepened. Che, normal girls. Unfortunately for the Undertaker, Grell just hugged him tighter.

"oh, yes~!" I leaned over and whispered to Chi,

"So, what happened to being a distasteful lump?"

"Who knows?" she whispered back.

"Hey, Storm, Crimson, do you just wanna go straight to lunch now and leave Mr. Grell here?" Ronald asked us. I nodded. How could I refuse? 'Twas food, after all!

And so we headed to lunch. By this time, I was really frustrated. Ronald needs a nickname! And so I stared at him while eating. Studying one's face is a good way to obtain nicknames! So, let's see...Golden hair...something yellow...an umbrella...no...raincoat...no...gah, gotta think out of the box! A...duck? yeah, that could work until I come up with something better... hm, Ducky...hehe...mayhaps...but...OH! Cow! 'Cause he's got a cowlick! Yes! perfect!  
"Storm," Ronald ventured cautiously, "Why're you staring at me like that?"  
"I dub thee Cow!" I cried out victoriously.

"Cow?" Ronald, or Cow, as I shall now call him, asked, incredulous. Chi just suppressed her laughter, or tried to, at least... Soon, the two of us were laughing our heads off, drawing Ronald ever closer to the abyss of laughter. I wouldn't be surprised if Grell walked in here right about now, either raving mad or completely, dare I say it, love struck, only to find his three students laughing their heads off at one another's' expense.

Hehe, guess who was right? That's right, me! I think my ego may be getting a little out of hand...gotta fix that... Well, anyways, Grell sauntered in, pretty upset that we'd left him alone there. I bet the Undertaker left and he only realized this half an hour later, when he was lonely and decided to find us, only to realize we were missing. Yep. Took him a full hour to get here! And what happens? We get yelled at.  
"You're so inconsiderate! I thought you got lost, or worse, eaten! I may not like you three, but you _are_ my responsibility!  
"Oh gee, thanks..." Chi dawdled sarcastically.  
"You're welcome, now come along, we have to go meet up with William dear~!" Grell stated, attempting to lead us out of the cafeteria. I shrugged and followed. The others were right behind me, so I turned around to talk to them...and walked right into a wall. Wait, no, not a wall. This was softer than a wall...I looked up...and screamed.

_I can already tell this won't be good...I'm going to die! It…they're gonna kill me! Help!_

_~Shonan_

**A/N: some of you may've noticed the slight edit to the cover, some of you may not. Well, I'm finally updating after months of procastination! You can probally expect the other stories to be updated soon, as well, so yay! I'll try and make some sort of update schedule from now on...So please don't kill me! Just kindly leave some sort of review or somehting, positive feedback, no flames, etc. Some of you may've already read most of this and/or know somewhat what's happening next. So, except for you people, who know me personally and I've told about this, Guess who Shonan ran into! And once more, please don't kill me! I made it extra long by accident (it's almost as long as the previous 2 chapters combined^^;) so pretend it was on purpose to make up for it!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Chi's Journal_

_Day 2.5_

_This' gonna be interesting…considering Shonan's deathly fear…fears…and paranoias….hehe, can't wait!_

I tuned Ronald out the moment I heard the scream. I recognized that scream, since only one person could bring forth such a blood-curdling scream, at least, when faced with that…

"Ohmygodgetitoffgetitawaygeti tawaygetitawaygetitaway! It's horrible, hideous, disgusting, slimy, gross, SNAKES!" Shonan screamed, flailing violently. Snakes? What would a snake be doing here? I glanced over, my attention now fully taken by my mistresses distress. She's run into a man with…okay, that was weird…Really, really weird. He had nine snakes draped over him, including one resting on his ear. He had short, silvery-white hair that had a cowlick (Okay, what's with these people and cowlicks? Are they going to farms or something? This is just weird…), which, incidentally, was standing straight up at the time, trembling slightly. He had slanted green eyes, and appeared to have scales at least on his face and chest, as far as I could see anyways. He was about our age, if I had to guess, but was relatively skinny and underweight; you could actually see a few of his bones, like his ribs. If he's friendly, we'll get him to eat more! He wore thigh-high boots along with a high-collared jacket over a striped black and white shirt, worn to reveal a bit of his chest. The jacket was cinched at the waist and neck, with two skinny belts at each location.

"A-ah, could you please be quiet? Is what Emily just asked." He said, nervously fidgeting and trying to calm Shonan down. "We're sorry to have startled you…says Goethe…" Shonan stopped yelling, but still ran behind me, only poking her head out a bit.

"Answer me, stranger, who are you, and why're you carrying those monstrosities with you!? And who're you talking about, anyways?" She was trying to put on a brave front, but she was actually trembling like a leaf. Poor thing's deathly afraid of snakes, you know. The antenna on the stranger's head flopped down to what I assumed was its normal position, but was still slightly trembling. Huh, how funny!

"I am Snake, and they're not monstrosities! Says Wordsworth. The snakes are perfectly friendly, if you treat them correctly, that is! Says Keats." He was odd, this one was. He didn't seem to be a Shinigami, so I have to wonder what he was doing here…

"Answer my question!" Shonan hissed, still on the defensive. "Who are you talking about? Speak for yourself!" she cried, disregarding his previous answer. Huh, she's normally a lot more at ease around strangers by this point…Maybe the snakes are what're keeping her hostile…Well, I don't know. I trust the guy. He seems like he won't attempt to kill us, so he's good. I stepped away from Shonan. 'O-oi! Ch-Crimson, get back here!" she cried, almost calling me by my real name.

"No!" I stuck my tongue out at her. Let her deal with her own problems, I'm not her meat shield!

"I am talking about my snakes, Wordsworth, Emily, Goethe, Oscar, Wilde, Webster, Bronte, Dan, and Keats." Snake answered after a pause. "…says Oscar" he added as an afterthought. By now his antenna had stopped trembling. Pity, it was amusing while it lasted…

"I don't know how you can possibly like those…_snakes_" Shonan spat vehemently. See? It was because of the snakes!

"Storm, just get over it, already! They're not going to attack you without reason!" I put in. really, letting snakes get between her and a possible new friend, that was getting to be a bit much. At least my acting was better than hers, though I almost used her name there…almost.

"Yes they will! Snakes are violent creatures! They'll pop up and attack from anywhere! Turn your back for a single second and the sly, deceitful creatures will strike, deadly fangs bared, to murder you with their poison! They'll manifest from the shadows, you never know where they are! Never making a sound, nature's assassins, vermin of all kind, eating prey up to 5 times bigger than they are, heck, there've been cases of people being eaten by snakes before! That is not a pleasant way to go! I refuse to befriend someone who's befriended those creatures! If I did, the little devils would probably just get jealous and find some excuse to kill me! I mean, look! They treat him like kin! There's just no way that snakes can be friendly! They're tricking him, deceiving him, planning to fatten him up for Thanksgiving! He'll be gone, killed by them, before we even know it!" Shonan ranted, not noticing Snake's face darkening slightly. Of all that girl's talents….the worst is this strange ability to accidentally push all the right buttons to get people to hate her…And then she wonders why they don't want to be her friends…

"You know," Snake began, "people say the same about cats…says Bronte."

"What? Cats? The perfect creatures give to the world by the made-up gods themselves! No way! Cats can be pretty badass, though, if you get on their bad side, but they're perfectly innocent for the most pat! They're so soft and fluffy~! Truly the perfect creatures! Not a flaw in their existence!" Shonan cried out.

"Then mayhaps Snakes feels the same about his snakes" I reasoned with her. Or, tried to, anyway.

"How is that even possible? Snakes are not capable of loving anything, much less humans, I don't see why it should work the other way around, either…" Shonan said, tilting her head to one side slightly. Snake looked hurt. Poor guy, I actually pitied him a bit. So, I decided to do him a favor and shut Shonan up. How, you may ask? Simple. You just knock her unconscious for some time. Ronald decided to finally speak.

"H-hey, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Do you _want_ to listen to anymore of her rants?"

"No…"

"Then shut up and enjoy the silence"

"Why are you three taking so long? William's waiting for us and– Who is that?" Grell shouted, storming back to us, not exactly pleased at being kept waiting.

"Grell, meet Snake. Snake, meet our effeminate mentor, Grell." I introduced. Snake nodded.

"Pleasure to meet you. Says Webster."

"You're not a Shinigami, so what're you doing in our headquarters?" Grell asked suspiciously.

"I was wondering the same thing…" said Ronald, mirroring my thoughts.

"I can honestly say I have no idea…says Bronte." Snake replied. "And what is a shinigami? Asks Wilde."

"Hm, well, whatever the case, you can just come with us! We're going to meet William~!" Grell chirped, herding us towards where he knew William to be.

"Who is this?" Were the first words out of Will's mouth the moment he saw Snake.  
"Umm...this is Snake, Mr. William" Ronald answered nervously.  
"And what is he doing here?" Will pushed up his glasses indignantly.  
"I'm afraid we don't know that, my agricultural friend" I said, bowing exaggeratedly, just to get on his nerves.  
"Well fine, so long as he poses no threat to us, he can stay for now. I'll speak to the department head about this later. And Grell, if you're going to teach your students anything, at least teach them something useful, _not_ how to annoy people. If you're going to annoy someone, go annoy that blasted demon you seem so fond of, at least." Will said scowling, getting up and heading out the door, muttering something about 'overtime'.  
"Oh, he must mean Bassie! Oh, I must introduce you! Bassie is the greatest being alive, apart from my darling Will, that is! Bassie is simply godly!" Grell gushed.  
"Bessie? He's all worked up over a cow?" I asked Ronald, who merely shrugged in response.

I'd left Shonan in our room, to recover. I hadn't hit her _that_ hard, had I? No matter, she was getting pretty heavy to carry around, anyways…Unfortunately, that left me with only Grell, Ronald, and Snake as company. Ronald and Snake weren't that bad, it was Grell who was getting on my nerves.

"I must say, I like your new friend! I'm so glad my students have such good taste in men! I mean, just look at that gently sculpted chest, the slightly pale skin, the silky silver hair, oh! It's enough to make a girl-" I cut him off before he got into details. He pouted, upset at my intervention.

"That's more than enough from you, Grell, the last thing we need is for you to rape our new friend here, I'm sure he'd appreciate any chastity and prudence from you, as well." I commented. Poor Snake looked positively pale, even more than usual.

"T-thank you for that, Crimson. Says Dan." He said. We'd formally introduced ourselves some time after Will had left.

"No problem, 'twas my pleasure to help. To be targeted by that creep must be pretty horrifying…" I replied.

"Makes me glad I'm safe, for now…" Ronald shuddered.

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked.

"I haven't been targeted yet, so I probably won't be for some time…"

"Well, just keep being the good cow that you are and I'm sure you'll be fine."

"He's a cow? Asks Webster." Snake asked curiously. I don't want to sound like Grell, but he just looked so cute! So innocent! Like a naïve little puppy…no, more like an innocent newborn kitten, but with scales…I laughed.

"No, Cow's just a nickname Shonan gave Ronald 'cause of his cowlick. I'm sure when she returns to consciousness, she'll give you a nickname, too! Maybe even multiple nicknames, actually…" I laughed.

"Ah, really, you think she'd accept us that easily?"…aand, the trembling cowlick has made its grand comeback!

"Hm, maybe not _that_ easily, it'd take some time, and she'd most likely only accept you, not your snakes…She's deadly afraid of them , you know! But look on the bright side, you spoke for yourself for once!" I stated. Snake got a determined look in his eyes.  
"I'll prove that my snakes aren't that bad! Says Keats," he resolved, nodding. I sighed. So much for speaking for himself...I suddenly felt a dark presence behind me. Shit...I nervously turned around.  
"Yes?" I asked carefully. Staring at me was the face of the devil herself, Shonan, looking every bit as hellish as I'd expected, if not more.  
"Crimson. What the fuck enticed you to fucking _knock me out_?" she growled. I gulped. Sure, now she remembers my alias...  
"Um...you were being unreasonable?" I chose my words very carefully, as is a must around Shonan, especially when she's in this state. It was as if someone had wiped her face clean of all hatred.  
"Oh, that's it? Well then, I guess that's okay, then!" she chirped happily. Now you understand why bipolar people are so hard to deal with...Shonan pulled up a chair beside me, as far from Snake as she could manage while still being in the group. She kept a wary eye on him the whole duration of our conversation, or rather, a wary eye on his snakes.  
"So, do you remember anything at all before you woke up here?" she asked.  
"Well, I was just going about my rounds, guarding the First Tier members, when something, or someone, we're not sure, must've silently come up behind us, knocking us out. Next thing we knew, we woke up here, in this strange place filled with strange people that all had suits, glasses, and golden-green eyes...Says Wilde." Shonan nodded in understanding, when her eye caught something moving in the corner of her vision. One of Snake's friends was slithering towards her. Her eyes got as wide as hazelnuts and she just barely managed to restrain a scream, from what I could tell. She quickly went to hide behind me, fear apparent in her eyes. Snake said something, but it was lost in the chaos. Moments later, the snake changed course and went back to Snake, perching on his head.  
"I apologize for Emily's behavior...Says Webster." Snake rapidly apologized, bowing his head courteously. Huh, never knew Englanders did that...wait, but if he works in a traveling circus, that would make him a foreigner, wouldn't it? Ugh, too much thinking for now. It's already 9 pm…Shit, I almost forgot about curfew at 9:30! I quickly got up out of my seat and warned the other, who were equally alarmed, none of us had realized we'd spent so much time talking…

_So, Ronald offered to let Snake stay in his room for the time being, at least until all the rooming issues were settled. I'd love to see how the other three guys Ron's rooming with will like that…according to Ronald, they have an extra bunk, but still…You know, saying Ronald is such a mouthful…I think I'll just call him Ron, much easier to say! Well, Shonan and I returned to our room as well, barely making curfew, but, thanks to my ingenious plan to shut her up, she was awake well into the early hours of the morning, 4:03, to be exact….and she kept me up with her endless chattering, too….Unlike her, I actually need sleep! I don't have that twisted less sleep=more energy system that she does! Ugh, tomorrow's gonna be hell…._

_~Chi_

**A/N: You've all been faced with a miracle! i've updated twice in a week! You can thank google docs, renewed inspiration/interest in Kuroshitsuji, and my friends for that! they feed me ideas and help me fill in my plot bunnies! So, new chapter! Sad to say it's shorter than the last one, though, so sorry 'bout that, but this seemed to be a good stopping point... let's hope this luck keeps up!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Shonan's Notebook_

_Day 3_

_ Hehehehehhe….4 in the morning is a glorious time! Especially when you've just consumed a whole 7 pounds of sugar in the form of candy and chocolate! Only bad part is now I'm dreadfully bored and Chi doesn't wanna keep me company….hehe, now she's growling at me to just 'blow out the goddamned candle, already, you little shit'! Isn't it exciting! I's kinds funny, she want me to get rid of the light, yet I need it to write….though I guess that she, a poor commoner needs sleep, unlike the self-proclaimed Dark lord, who needs no sleep! Speaking of sleep, I thought she'd fallen asleep about 3 hours ago, after out game of cards…guess not, the! hehe…A peasant should know they need sleep! I'm honored that she'd want to keep her ruler company so late at night/early in the morning, though! Guess I'd better take my kingdom into consideration and blow out the candle, then, so, bye-bye, Mr. Candle!_

"Argh!" I roared, recoiling into my cocoon of blankets, shying away from the blinding light that had just invaded Chi and my room. Just _who_ the _hell_ is _dumb_ enough to suddenly turn on the goddamned _lights!? We were sleeping!_ Gah! I pulled my covers closer. I heard Chi groaning in her bead, equally appalled by the light. I glanced at my clock from a crack in the covers. Oh, joy. 6 in the morning...Wait, isn't that when...The covers were suddenly ripped away from me. I glared at the intruder. What...the...I blinked, then screamed. Why was Grell here!?

"Good morning, ladies~! Rise and shine~!" he said cheerily. I twitched, my paranoia nagging in the back of my mind.  
"Storm...why's the red monstrosity here?" Chi mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She'll realize what she just said in 3...2...1...She suddenly froze. "The hell! Why're you here!?" she cried, jumping back a full foot or so, just barely missing the pouted.  
"We're all ladies here, there's nothing wrong with it... anyways, hurry up, you have five minutes to meet up with the rest of the group in the room, so hurry up~! We're going to have death scythe handling lessons today~!" I stared as he exited our room, still in shock. The heck just happened?

-  
Ronald cringed when Chi and I walked in. Chi looked...well, dead. Her hair was sticking up in various places, and a bit knotty. She had prominent dark bags under her eyes, and in general just looked a lot worse than her normal pretty self. Guess this is what happens when she doesn't get an hour to prepare...

"What happened to you?" he asked, startled by her appearance.  
"Why don't you ask them?" she growled, pointing at Grell and I. Ronald glanced at us, searching for an explanation.  
"I couldn't sleep since Crimson knocked me out yesterday and I was bored and wanted company, so..." I explained, shrugging. On the bright side, I trained myself to say Crimson instead of Chi!  
"My brilliant plan backfired on me...It seemed to work, but in reality just made my life miserable...Then _that_ creature," she glared at Grell," decided it would be okay to barge into our room and wake us up by turning on the lights and taking our blankets!" she exclaimed, outraged. Grell laughed sheepishly. I looked around, seeing if there was any food around. I was starving! Alas, instead of food...  
"What's _he_ doing here?" I asked, defenses up immediately.

"Who?" Ronald asked, following my gaze. "Oh, Snake? He wanted to come with me, Can he stay in our group for the time being, Mr. Grell?"

"Of course! If you ever bring such a hot guy with you, of course he can stay!" Grell exclaimed. Snake shuddered. You know, I almost pitied him. Almost.

I'm sure you all remember why Grell asks us to get up so early for breakfast, right? Today was especially bad...Grell has a horrible choice of words...He started reminiscing about his and Will's first soul reaping, on their final exam, and I swear, I got mentally scarred. He made it sound like the two had...yeah, you get the idea...I already have a low tolerance for speak of those sorts of things already, now add in the fact that both the subjects of Grell's retelling were guys, I turned pale and probably would've fainted if Chi hadn't been there to distract me...Then add in the fact that there were _nine snakes_ at the table...The world wants to kill me, i just know it! I especially hate how some of the snakes kept glaring at me... Also to be noted: Shinigami food is like British food (no offence), bland and tasteless. Bleh. Insufferable!

Well, seems like Will's brainwashed his students pretty well, they're already stiff and soldier-like, complaining about overtime, as well! Like little mini-Wills!...you know what, that's actually a really scary thought...I shuddered. Other than that, breakfast went somewhat smoothly, with few roadblocks along the way.

-  
Our next stop was the novice training room, where they train new recruits to use their death scythes. After three months of training, we will receive our scores in practical technique. So much time...  
"So...like this?" Ronald tried out a strike with his death scythe that Grell taught us. Apparently, he'd had an AAA in practical technique back in his training days. Chi and I were sitting on the bleachers that surrounded the training area, talking to Snake. Turns out, he could be pretty good company, as long as the snakes don't come near me!  
"Exactly! Keep this up, and you'll be a qualified reaper in no time!" Grell complemented.

"Thanks!" Ronald beamed. Chi was called up next, which left me alone in an awkward silence with Snake and Ronald. Already, my mind's sending out warning signals…

"Umm...hi..." I made a feeble attempt at conversation.  
"Hey there, Storm! I was great out there, wasn't I?" Ronald answered, slinging his arm around my shoulders. Snake's eyes narrowed slightly. I uncomfortably moved Ronald's arm off my shoulders.  
"Could you not do that, please?" I asked awkwardly. See? This is why I need my not-socially-awkward-around-guys-'cause-of-paranoia friend, Chi!

"Huh? Oh, sorry…" Ronald apologized. At least he had the decency to do that much…I heard an odd sound…no way…I glanced at Snake…I was right….one of his snakes was _laughing_ at me…oh, the shame!

"Uh, Snake….could you tell your snake to stop laughing at me? It wasn't that funny…It actually wasn't funny at all…" I frowned. Snake nodded, and hissed something to the snake, who hissed back. Then, he turned back to me.

"Sorry. Says Emily."

"That's okay…" I said. "Say, how can you tell the snakes apart, anyways? They all look pretty much the same to me…" Snake and his scaly friends looked shocked. The snakes seemed to protest, hissing their little hearts out at me. "Ack! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" I rapidly apologized, ducking my head between my hands and attempting to shield myself from their wrath. Snake's cowlick was trembling nervously.

"S-Storm! Calm down! They won't hurt you!" he cried.

"Are you kidding me? Of course they will! I got on their bad side and now they'll wanna kill me! I'm sorry snakes! I didn't mean to insult you, but you really do look alike!" I cried, terrified. Che, look at me, groveling just to appease some filthy snakes…pitiful…Some of the snakes stopped hissing and returned to Snake. Snake hissed something to them, and the others grudgingly returned, as well.

"Sorry about that. Says Bronte." Snake apologized.

"A-are you sure? They won't hold a grudge? Can you even understand them at all? Or are you paraphrasing their harsh words so they won't scare me any more than I already am?" I sniffed, uncurling from my protective shield. Snake opened his mouth to say something, paused, and shut it, looking pensive. Then he spoke, mumbling.

"…May be paraphrasing a bit…Says Webster…"

"See? They will hold a grudge! Then they'll come and kill me in my sleep!" I cried, despairing. Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder, startling me. "Gah!" I jumped. I was still so jumpy… I turned around warily. It was Chi, standing behind me, impatiently tapping her foot. "Ah, Crimson! How was it?" I asked, getting up.

"How do you think? My skills with weapons are positively impeccable!" she bragged.

"Someone's gonna come and knock you off your high horse someday…" I muttered, going off to take my turn.

_My turn went pretty well, I learned some stuff, messed up some other stuff, just completely failed other stuff, but generally did fairly well, by anyone's standards. That is, about halfway through my turn, when the biggest disaster occurred… I was practicing a complicated maneuver, when I suddenly felt something fairly cold and a bit soft on my foot, wrapping around my leg. I glanced at it quickly, and screamed (I tend to do that a lot nowadays, don't I?), accidentally letting go of my scythe, mid-swing, and focusing all of my attention on getting the 4 ft serpent off my leg. How was I supposed to notice that my scythe flew right at Grell, almost injuring his 'beautiful face'? Wasn't my fault! Snake-boy over there should've kept a better eye on his pet monsters! After my turn was over and I apologized many, many times, Snake introduced us to his snakes one by one, showing us how t differentiate between them. Well, moving on~!_

Of all the people...he's the last person I expected so see here. The last person I expected to just _walk up to Grell_ and talk to him. Who is this, you may ask? 'Twas Mr. Farmer, William T. Spears…

"Grell, there's been an emergency in the library. Kindly come and take your students with you, the Directors of the Departments have called an emergency meeting in the library, mandatory for all Shinigami. This will also double as a learning experience for the novices, and maybe give them something to do instead of lounging around all day and doing sloppy work." So, we ended up going to the meeting in the Library. I was surprised to find the Undertaker heading it.

"We have a problem." He held up a cinematic record. Or at least, what _used_ to be a cinematic record...there was a long gash torn in the book, rendering it unable to store the soul any longer. Everyone in the room gasped in shock. I couldn't figure out why, though, it was just a book… "Someone, or something, had broken into the library and taken one of the souls. This could quickly develop into a very serious problem, even more so than it already is. I've examined the damage, but I've never seen anything like it in all my years of experience. It may've been a demon," the room gasped again, "but they usually have much cleaner work, and would just take the entire book, leaving an empty copy in its place, not shred the book in order to obtain the soul. I don't know how this creature got in the library; I just know it was last night. We don't know who or what it is, so we'll need to be on high guard. Even a single soul is a huge problem, if any other souls are taken, it could throw the worlds into chaos! Or something like that, anyways~!" The Undertaker explained. I glanced at Chi for a brief moment. She looked bored with the whole affair in general. I decided I'd come examine the book for myself later tonight. The meeting was dismissed, and I saw Will hand a paper, actually, a whole packet of papers, to one of the directors. The two exchanged a brief conversation, and then Will made his way to Snake, telling him something inaudible to my ears.

"So, what'd he tell you~? I bounded over to Snake, keeping my distance from his pets.

"The paperwork to return us to our world will be processed in a week. Says Oscar." He replied.

"Aww, just a week?" I asked, slightly disappointed. "I wouldn't mind if your snakes went back, but you too?"

"It is necessary. The circus needs me; in fact, they're probably worried sick already. Says Bronte."

"Well then, We'll be sure to come and visit sometime, okay? But let's save the sappy stuff for when you're actually leaving, okay? For now, let's just make the most of the week we have! I'll get you to speak for yourself yet!" I exclaimed, determined. Snake chuckled.

"Well, if you do come visit, we'll tell Joker to let you backstage. Says Dan." He answered.

"Oh! Backstage! Never been there before! I wonder what it's like~!" I mused, walking back to the rest of the group with Snake.

_ Surprise, surprise, a productive day! Well, I'm just writing here briefly to keep myself awake. I'll be back later after my little midnight mission. The problem'll be slipping away without waking Chi up…_

Okay, that wasn't that hard. She's still so tired from yesterday's 2 hours of sleep…Poor thing…Well, anyways, I snuck down to the library, only to be nearly blinded by a flashlight.

"Who goes there~?" it was the Undertaker.

"It's me, Storm!" I cried.

"Why are you here, girlie~?"

"I've come to investigate the cinematic record." I stated. He stared at me for a few seconds, then responded.

"Give me a good laugh~" Uh….and how exactly do I do that?

"Umm….okay then…A man saw a little girl and asked her, 'little girl, why are you crying?' 'Because I lost my harmonica!' she responds. 'Well then, I have a new harmonica for you!' he said, taking out a blade and handing it to her. And so she took it, and as she played, her smile became wider and wider…" There was a moment of silence, then the Undertaker burst out laughing.

"Pwahahahha~! That was a good one! All right, I'll let you see the book~ But why do you need it?" he asked, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Just curious" I answered as generally as possible, flipping through the page. On the back cover, I found what I was looking for. A skull painted in blood…

_ Okay, tired now. You'll find out what happened later, I don't feel like telling you right now. So, see ya later!_

_~Shonan_

**A/N: Yay! Yet another chapter! Also, a good show to watch for this story is Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler, and especially at this point, readint the manga would be a good idea. If you don't feel like doing that, at least watch the tale of Will the Shinigami, one of the OVAs. It's one of my main sources when writing this, and is mentioned here a bit.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Chi's Journal_

_Day 10_

_ Jeez, I haven't opened this thing in ages…It's been a week since the meeting in the library, and today is the day Snake's supposed to leave, which makes it a sad day for us all. Even Shonan, surprisingly. He'd finally started speaking for himself more often, with the official record of 7 times. Almost once a day! Will would be stopping by with the paperwork around noon. Apparently, Snake works for a traveling circus, so it'll be hard to visit…How come all the good people have to leave? I mean, honestly! Well, steering clear of that topic, in case Shonan manages to find this thing, there were a couple more incidents of destroyed cinematic records, 5 more, to be exact. So it makes sense that the Shinigami would be panicking. Hehe, it's like watching little powerless ants running around, only to be completely and utterly destroyed later on…_

I shut my journal and put it under my pillow. Time to finally get some more sleep. 3 in the morning is a horrible time to wake up 'cause you couldn't sleep…

I could faintly hear some mumbling coming from Shonan's side of the room. Ugh, too tired to tell who it is, it all sounds the same, to me…maybe she's talking in her sleep again? Oh, god, someone just screamed. Couldn't you spare my eardrums, please? I'm still recovering from the farewell party we threw Snake yesterday…ugh, stupid head, stop hurting…wait…someone screamed? I shot up in bed, eyes wide, then instantly cringing and holding me head moments later. Bad idea…I cracked one eye open, expecting to see our constant and annoying visitor, Grell. But to my surprise, that wasn't the case this time. Shonan was backed up against her headboard, pale and wide-eyed, and just generally looking terrified. Snake was standing off to one side of her bed, looking startled. His cowlick, like the first time we met him, was standing straight up, trembling. He looked like he was trying to calm her down.

"S-Storm, please, calm down! I didn't mean to scare you! Says Dan." He stammered nervously.

"Then why'd you bring those blasted creatures with you!?" She cried, eyeing the snakes warily. Emily hissed, causing Shonan to whimper with fright. I wonder how long it would take her to accept the snakes…Well, at least by this point, she was able to occasionally ignore them…

"What do you want, Snake?" I asked, in a bit of a foul mood.

"I wanted to say goodbye before anyone else could ruin the mood…" he admitted quietly.

"And your way of doing that is to scare the shit out of the only person that's afraid of you?" I questioned suspiciously. He'd have to pardon my rudeness, but this was just a generally bad wake-up call.

"I didn't mean to…I'd already said goodbye to Ronald, and was trying to wake you two up to say goodbye, but Bronte startled her by nearing her face to say goodbye. Says Webster." Snake explained. That makes sense. I'd be a bit freaked out if the first thing I saw upon waking up was a snake, too, just not as freaked out. I sighed.

"I just wish you didn't have to leave…I mean, I understand you have to go back to your circus buddies and whatnot, but still…A week's just such a short amount of time…We'll visit as soon as we can, I promise!" I said. It really was a shame, you know…There's finally a good-looking guy around who isn't gay, a flirt, creepy as heck, or a wet blanket, and he has to leave in just a week? Unfair~! I turned around to go tell Shonan we may as well get up now, only to be greeted by an unexpected sight. Shonan was staring at one of the snakes, Goethe, if I'm not mistaken, oddly. Was she…no way…this goes beyond ridiculous. Who in their right mind would have a staring contest…with a snake? They don't even have eyelids! You know what? Don't answer that. We all know my lovely host is never in her right mind…ever…Ugh, the word host sounds so…crude…oh, no..I'm getting soft…eh, whatever…Then, she did something to truly shock me. Never breaking eye contact with the snake, she slowly and carefully reached out her hand and touched the snake, who stayed stock-still throughout the whole thing. She pulled her hand back, surprised, and, I suspect, fairly terrified.

"It's…soft…and warm…" she muttered.

"Snakes aren't the cold, heartless creatures people make them out to be. Says Goethe." Snake informed her.

"Can I have your skull?" she asked the snake, who reared back, surprised. Being the bright creature she is, Shonan mistook this as the snake preparing to attack. "Ah! I'm sorry!" she cried. Allow me to explain. Shonan likes to collect skulls, for whatever reason. She claims it's for anatomical studies, but she only collects skulls and spines/ribs. I've never questioned her about it, though. I got up.

"Okay, crazy one. Stop bothering the snake and get ready." I said, dragging Shonan out of bed. It was already 7:30, which was odd. Grell would never miss a chance to be with his 'William Darling'. It was slightly revolting, even to me. "Snake, you'll have to pardon us, but we need to get ready. We'll meet up with you in a bit, okay?" I said, kindly showing him the door. It took us a record time to get ready. Only a meager 30 minutes. For me. Shonan took her average 10 minutes. She was giggling to herself strangely a bit after Snake had left.

"What's going on? You're acting like a love struck teenager." I told her. She immediately looked scandalized.

"Oh, nononononono! It's just that," she giggled, "Snakes are soft and warm, just like evil teddy bears! But worse! Imagine this; the tyrant of all worlds, intent on enslaving humanity…being soft and warm! I just can't get over it!" she laughed. Well, when you put it that way…

It was horrible. The moment we entered the room, we were hug-attacked by our red monstrosity of a mentor.

"Oh, ladies, you're finally here~! You're late!" Grell cried, then growled, his face darkening evilly. Whoa, bipolar much? Shonan was freaking out. Snake was trembling in a corner, appearing traumatized. His snakes seemed rigid with shock, as well. Wonder what the red-haired wonder did to them? Suddenly, the door burst open and Ronald pried Grell off of us before he managed to kill us.

"I'm so sorry! Mr. Red Hair here overdosed on his hormones, saying something about leaving an impression…" Ronald apologized. I was torn between skepticism, surprise, and all-out laughing. Grell took hormones? That's a good one. Kind of scary someone would go to such extents to be as ladylike as possible, if my assumption was correct, I mean, we women aren't perfect, you know. It's not all that terribly great…

"And how would you know this?" I joked.

"I went to his room to ask him about breakfast." he answered seriously.  
"...oh..."

It was finally noon. That dreaded time of day when Will would be returning with the paperwork. I glanced at the clock on the wall. 11:59...12:00. Sure enough, Will was marching towards us, followed by his soldier-like students. He brusquely handed the papers to Snake.  
"Here. Now hurry over to the Inter-World Transport Department immediately and get out of here." Rather rude, wasn't he? Shonan seemed to think the same, as she took a potato from the table near Grell, and going behind him, threw it at Will. The shinigami were preparing for lunch, and had a few tables with raw materials sitting out, much to Shonan's convenience. 'And mine, as well', I thought, taking an apple and biting into it. Anyways, there was a sickeningly loud crack as the potato hit Will in the face. I almost dropped my apple in shock. First, couldn't he have dodged that? And second, maybe Shonan was a bit too forceful? I'm pretty sure potatoes aren't supposed to break people's faces upon contact... The potato hit the ground with a noticeably loud 'thud' amidst the dead silence. Will's glasses followed moments later, broken neatly in half along the nosepiece, falling to the ground with a clatter. I glanced at Will to find his face intact; the glasses had taken the brunt force of the throw. When he finally spoke, his tone was deadly.  
"Who was it?" He growled threateningly.  
"'Twas Grell, sir!" Shonan cried, pointing an accusing finger that the stunned redhead. I almost pitied the guy as Will turned the full force of his hate upon the Shinigami. He spat something about overtime and advanced. The rest of us smart creatures, that is, Shonan, Snake, Ronald, and I, quickly and quietly snuck to the Inter-World Transport Department to see Snake off.

In the middle of the room was a large orb that sat propped up by many stands from all sides, almost like a giant crystal ball, if you will, placed above an intricate design on the ground. The Shinigami in that department explained to us that the Orb was for keeping track of the transported Shinigami. They instructed Snake to stand on the ornate pattern, and after a few final goodbyes, he left with a flash. A slightly hazy image appeared within the orb. A woman with wild black hair worn in tight curls in a black leather and fishnet outfit ran over to where Snake emerged from some shrubs nearby.  
"Snake! Where have you been the last week?"  
"Uh, I..."  
"Whatever, hurry up! We're about to leave for Paris! We almost left you behind!" she said, taking his arm and dragging him to where the circus was, indeed, beginning to leave.  
"Beast? Did you find him?" A man with orange hair asked the woman. He seemed to be in charge of the circus.  
"Calm down, Joker, he's right here. I found him and his snakes hiding behind some bushes." The image faded and there was just silence.  
"So...I guess he's really gone now, huh?" Shonan asked. "Paris...the City of Light..."  
"We should head back to make sure Grell's still alive..." Ronald said. I nodded.  
"Sure thing, Cow!" Shonan said, snapped out of her post-farewell daze. "Well? What're you waiting for? Come along, Moo!" She said, already at the door.  
"Moo?" Ronald questioned, looking around.  
"I think she means you!" I informed him, holding back a laugh at Shonan's childish-ness. Ronald looked surprised.  
"Me?"  
"Yes, now come hither, child! We don't have much time! The bloody cannibals are gonna steal all our precious food!" Shonan exclaimed, looking slightly annoyed at the delay. Ronald laughed.  
"You're certainly some of the strangest people I've ever met...How on earth did you come up with Moo? It's slightly insulting, actually..." he frowned slightly.  
"That's Shonan for you...always making nicknames and insulting the people in the process...Anyway, you know how she called you Cow because of your cowlick, right? Well, calling you Moo is just a further elaboration on that." I explained.  
"Oh, I see now!" Ronald said, enlightened on how Shonan's mind works. Of course, no one knows what truly happens in there, and I lived there for 12 years! Granted, I'm still technically sealed within her mind, but at least I can physically manifest myself now, leaving only a minimal part of my being in the seal...aaand, we're getting technical.

Grell looked like a mutilated Grell stew. A red puddle on the floor, if you will. He quickly composed himself at the promise of a simple lunch. Apparently he wished to tell us something important?  
"You three will be coming with me to get some Real-World Shinigami experience!" He exclaimed. "You'll be posing as servants with me for a good friend of mine in order to be able to watch a real Shinigami in action! Just follow my lead, and you'll be fine!" Servants...you've _got_to be kidding me...

Shonan stood in between Ronald and I. The three of us were behind Grell, who'd just knocked on the door.  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, tugging her skirt down as far as it could go in a feeble attempt to make it longer. "There's so many things wrong with this attire...plus, it's hard to fight in a skirt..."  
"I don't see any problems with it!" Ronald smirked, eying her like a piece of meat. Shonan shifted uncomfortably.  
"See what I mean? Not only is it scandalously short," it went almost down to her knees, come on, "but it's a maid outfit! That's the single worst outfit to wear, closely followed by nurses and police~!" She complained. Considering how much of a prude she was, I could see where she was coming from, but wasn't this just a bit unreasonable? Her normal outfits back at home were considerably less proper... "At least my outfits at home have places to hide weapons, chocolate, and the such!" Oh, that explains it... Weapons and sugar, two of the only things that could possibly justify Shonan wearing a skirt or not-floor-length dress. Suddenly the door opened, revealing a very beautiful woman with bright red hair, which was worn in a bob cut. She wore a red skirt with a matching waistcoat worn over a ruffled white blouse. She had a red hat and I could see a red parasol propped up against the door. She also had black gloves, and I couldn't help but notice her stunning red eyes.  
"This is Angelina Durless, aka Madame Red" Grell introduced us. Madame Red, huh? Fitting! "Madame, I'd like you to meet Ronald, Storm, and Crimson." he told her. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention! Grell was dressed in simple black clothes, and had donned plain round glasses. His hair was now brown, and tied back with a red ribbon, giving him a meek look. He'd explained to us that he posed as her butler, and so he needed to keep a low profile. "I brought them to be new servants, that is, if that's okay with you..." Madame Red seemed pleasantly surprised.  
"Oh, of course! Well, don't just stand out there, you'll catch a cold!" she said, herding us inside. I gasped at the grandity of the building. It was quite beautiful, if I do say so myself! I glanced at Madame Red and looked at her red hair enviously. Red was such a beautiful color...I just wish I had hair like hers...especially now that we'd been required to change our hair colors. Ronald's hair was now just a pure blond, Shonan's was light brown, and mine was just plain black. It was rather odd seeing such different colors gracing everyone's heads...I snapped out of my thoughts when Madame Red started talking again. "I suppose I should give everyone tasks to do...Okay then, you," she pointed at Ronald, "can tend to the gardens, you," she pointed to me, "can dust and otherwise clean the house, and you," she pointed to Shonan, "can cook." Shit, we're screwed. Shonan can't even make a simple bowl of cereal without setting something on fire! "You can start immediately once you get settled in!" she exclaimed, happy to have new people to boss around. Lucky us, huh?

And what did we learn today, Madame Red? Don't ever let Shonan so much as see a kitchen if you don't want a quarter of your house to disappear in a bang. Because that's exactly what happened. Shonan decided we should eat chicken pot pie today, and instead of being a logical person and asking to switch jobs with me, who can actually somewhat decently cook, decided to try her hand in the kitchen. Now, we just have to ask, what kitchen? Honestly, what a fool...

Despite Shonan's royal failure, Madame Red decided we could still come with her to the party. What party, you may ask? Why the Viscount Druitt's party, of course! But of course, being the social butterfly she was, she couldn't just come alone! Oh, no, she had to bring some bloody noble family with her! And of course she'd pick the family with a New Demon as a butler! Luckily for us, the New Demons have been separated from the normal Underworld for so long, they couldn't even recognize a normal demon, or even the current queen! Then again, with our current appearance, not many people would, even if they knew who we were already...That demon, Sebastian, as was his current name, man was he annoying! Always with that smug look on his face, that superiority complex radiating off him in waves...Ugh...kill me now...

You know that previous 'kill me now'? Multiply it by 5. I just met the Viscount. Even by my standards, the guy was just lecherous. The way he eyed Madame Red's niece like a lion eyeing fresh meat...it was just disgusting. I can't imagine what the poor girl felt! Even more so because she had a pink dress...I could see that Shonan wanted to escape from the house as soon as possible to avoid the Viscount. That look of his seemed to be reserved for anything in a skirt, especially if it had any semblance of a chest...I have a feeling that Shonan's paranoia will just get that much worse after tonight...or maybe not...The Viscount seemed to have caught up to the Madame's niece, who seemed to be having a grand difficulty at attempting to plaster a smile to her face while avoiding another young lady with four blond curls atop her head and startling green eyes in an equally pink dress. Her very voice annoyed me...You know, I now felt bad for the Madame's niece. The Viscount ushered her into another room. Poor thing, I hope you make it out of this okay...Grell suddenly appeared in front of me, informing me it was time to go. I nodded and followed him. He'd already rounded up the others, I was the last one left. He informed us about the target as we headed out to the scene of the reaping-to-be. We had all resumed out original appearances, hair color wise, anyways.  
"Grell, hurry up!" Madame Red called. I startled. When had she gotten here? "It's about time!" she snapped. "This is the victim's house." she told him as we watched from the rooftops. Shonan was seething with anger.

"Wait, so she knew about this? That he was a Grim Reaper? So he made me wear that ridiculous outfit for nothing?" she fumed.

"Well, I wouldn't say it was for nothing..." Ronald commented.

"Shut up! Your playboy opinions aren't needed here!" Shonan snapped. Tough luck, buddy. It appeared that Grell was breaking quite a few of the Shinigami laws right now…eh, I was never one to care for laws anyway, but wasn't he supposed to be a positive influence? Oh, the irony…

_I'm sick and tired of this. If I hear Shonan complaining one more time, I swear I'll…You know what? That's not a half bad idea. I'll just hide her notebook and see how long it takes her to find it! Yes, that could work…okay, off to hide the stupid thing now, so I'll see you later!_

_~Chi _

**A/N: Longest chapter yet! Took a bit longer than the other, 'cause i almost got caught up in my old ways (i.e. procastinating for months on end before finally being productive again), plus I had some plot bunnie to fill in which my friends helped me with via. google docs/school. So that's why the formatting's all screwed up in some places. I tried to fix it, I really did, but...So yeah. Yesterday I ended up typing 4 pages of this on Google Docs 'cause I had to use Dad's laptop since he was using the main computer. I could've probally had this done yesterday, but I needed to finish some things up. So, be happy I've been updating so quickly lately! And if you're someone who reads my other stories, I think I'll just focus on one at a time for now, to make it easier for me. I have KonichiwaKitty, a friend of mine from school, on typing duty with AGOCAP (I gave her the notebook where I wrote it out, back when I used to do that), so If you see AGOCAP getting updated, that's why. Also, one of my favorite chapters is coming up soon! I'm so excited! It's very special, and those of you who know me personally know why~! Not to mention I was so excited about it, I wrote it out in my notebook! A whole 14 pages long, hehe~**

**Also note that from this point on, any form of plot in the anime/manga is completely irrevievant. If you've read my previos stories, particularly AGOCAP, you'd know that I take character, ideas, and events from both the anime and manga, if they're diffrent. Note that I may change, even if slightly, some characters' purposes. For now only one, and that's 'cause I wish for my story to be two-faced bitch free. If you've seen the original Kuroshitsuji, you know who I'm talking about. And subsequently, you'll have a good guess on who I introduce next chapter. If you know me, you know i hate stories that perfectly follow the original sereis' plot, it's just too predictable. Like in this chapter, where I mentioned/hinted at the Jack the Ripper case, I do occasionally use events from the series, but not often. So tell me, what is this storyline you speak of?**


	7. Chapter 7

_Shonan's Notebook_

_Day 94_

_ Ah-hah! I finally found this thing! My precious, what happened to you? It's been just over 3 months since I lost you…Huh, funny that I'd find you in Chi's dresser…Why was I there? You ask? Well, you see, it's Thanksgiving today, aka our Final Exam day! Lucky us! We had to already pack and get everything we could possibly need ready. As for why I was in Chi's dresser, don't tell her, but I have a secret stash of gum hidden there! You poor thing, neglected for such a long time…_

I shut my precious notebook, storing it away in my bag with the rest of my belongings. Wasn't gonna lose that again…On the bright side, I got to sleep in 'till 8 today! Chi and I had been called to the Director's office to be there at 9. I probably could've stayed asleep later, but the ceiling was only so interesting… And so I went around my daily morning routine; wake up, get changed, brush teeth, run a brush through my hair, bother Chi until she was done. 10 minutes versus an hour. How the heck did Chi manage to take so long!? Ah, well. I'll leave that for later.

Chi and I nervously stepped into the Director's office. A middle-aged man was sitting in front of a desk, with his assistant standing behind him.

"We will now announce the results of your hard work. Storm Whiston. Practical Technique, A. Written, B. Ethics, C. Average, B. Crimson Chattoway. Practical Technique, AA. Written, B. Ethics, D. Average, B. You two have a special mission. There was a soul collected five years ago. However, it seems that the person is somehow still living. You are to investigate and re-collect this soul. You have one month." The Director handed me a folder.

"Drocell Keinz…" I read aloud. "Oh, great, a German! Tch, stupid Germans with their stupid unpronounceable names and other words…It's like someone decided to dance across a keyboard and call it a word…" I complained. Not to be (too) racist or anything, but it's true… Chi rolled her eyes, used to my behavior by now, and took the folder from my hands.

"German or not, he's quite the eye candy! Such a pity he'll have to die…" she exclaimed as she opened the folder. That's one of the things I actually dislike about Chi. The way she thinks. It's sickening. She must've seen the look of disgust on my face because she held out the photo to show me. "Look!" Uh-huh, real nice. Nothing too spe-was he wearing…eye makeup? I snorted. Yet another oddball, eh? Just watch him be just as flamboyant as Grell! No, that's not possible. Then again, from the look in his eyes, he could be mute and jaded to the world, for all I know… I took the folder back, to read more.

" A puppeteer for the Mandalay family, very loyal to his master…Wait…this seems a bit outdated…"

"We had no new information about him except that he has been re-animated with another soul, so we re-used his old file from five years ago."

"That would explain the black-and-white photo, then… So he's a puppeteer, a control freak. Oh, joy. Chi, we'll have to be careful not to be turned into puppets!" I joked. I didn't know just how right I would be.

"Oh, Chi~ Look how beautiful~!" I gasped, staring at one of the street vendors' stalls. We were in the central marketplace, which was having a festival week to celebrate Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season. I was captivated by a beautiful ring which had a blue stone mounted onto it. Not quite sapphire, but even more beautiful, if that was possible. Like a blue diamond! Chi came over, reluctantly laving the stall she was browsing.

"Oh, nice find! That blue certainly would suit you! Why don't you buy it?" she asked me. We were buying a few things for ourselves, as well as some friends for the holidays.

"Eh, well, you see…" I began.

"You're broke, aren't you?" I nodded. Chi sighed and dug some money from her pocket.

"Here, but use it wisely." She told me. I nodded eagerly. I ended up buying the ring, as well as a pendant with a small silver snake coiled around a beautiful emerald sphere. In case we ever meet our reptilian friend again. I hadn't seen Scales in three whole months! I also bought a wooden bracelet with red stones imbedded in it for Grell, a ruby necklace for Madame Red, since we ended up posing as her servants for most of our time up till now, and a amber-handled pocketknife for Ronald. For Chi, I got a pretty set of ebony and red earrings, since she loved the colors black and red. I even got something for Will! It was a silver pocket watch, since I knew he hated overtime and had to be perfectly punctual all the time. Chi bought a bottle of perfume for Grell, a snake-charming flute for Snake, and a book for Ronald. She wouldn't tell me the title, though…For herself, she bought a hairpiece with black feathers. Victorian era jewelry is so pretty! I just wish there was a bit more variety…

Our holiday shopping was almost done and we were collecting the last of our purchases, when I heard a sound. It was actually pretty creepy, but no one else really seemed to pay it heed. It sounded like an old, slightly out of tune version of "London Bridge".

"Chi, do you hear that?" I asked. She nodded. Very soon, a man came into view. Well, not really man, that just sounds so old. He was about our age, really. The first thing I noticed was his hair. It was ginger, and cut into flares tossed aside from his eyes, with bangs reaching down to his chin. His eyes were a pretty amethyst color, and seemed emotionless. He has blue and pink eye shadow accentuating his eyes, and a blue fleur-de-lis was painted underneath his right eye. He wore a blue tailcoat with gold piping and a red ribbon tied in a bow around his neck, and a black top hat decorated with a red ribbon and two black feathers sat perched atop his head. He had short black pants, white gloves, and wore knee-high black-and-white striped socks underneath his black boots, which had gold buttons. He was carrying the source of the horrendous sound, a music box painted with a blue fleur-de-lis, around his neck. It was the same person from the photo. Strangely enough, he didn't look as if he'd aged so much as a single day from then… However, I must admit, the photo simply didn't do him justice. They never do. I thanked the salesperson and walked away. "Should we follow him?" I asked Chi. She nodded.

Drocell ended up unknowingly leading us to an old, abandoned manor behind a ruddy shop called Angel's Wings Antiques. The shop itself was quite creepy, laden with lifelike dolls that seemed they could come alive at any moment. Have I mentioned I'm not a big fan of dolls? The inside of the manor was grand, or at least, it used to be. Now it was covered in dust, and still pretty creepy. Don't get me wrong, I love morbid things but this wasn't morbid. This was flat out creepy. Like something was terribly wrong. I caught sight of a doll standing in the middle of the reception hall. I remembered glancing at the mini version of this doll inside the shop, but this one was even more lifelike, if that was even possible. Not to mention, this one was life-size, as well. I curiously walked up to the doll. I heard Chi trying to tell me something, but I ignored her. She's too worrisome, anyways. It's not like the dolls' just gonna reach out and - you know what, I take that back. It did. My vision started to swim as the doll tightened her grip on my neck.

I woke up in a room that smelled like wood. Not the greatest scent to wake up to when you're still lightheaded from the strangest kidnapping case ever. I cautiously opened my eyes. Scattered around the room were what seemed to be spare doll parts, wood carving tools, straw, wax, some metals, and various other materials. I turned my head to the side and gasped silently. Slumped over beside me was the girl I'd seen at the Viscount's party three months ago! You know, obnoxiously pink dress and bonnet, orange bow in her hair, emerald green eyes, and blonde curls? Yeah, her. I was tempted to just push her and see what would happen, but I found It took a lot of effort to move my arms at all. Effort I just didn't have. Great. Suddenly, the door creaked open and Drocell stepped through the door, humming "London Bridge" quietly to himself. I promptly closed my eyes, pretending to still be unconscious. I heard something being deposited beside me, and then it seemed like the girl beside my got taken away. Stupid puppeteer, put her back! I just got used to her presence, now it feels empty! I once more cracked an eye open after a few minutes, deeming it safe to do so. I slowly turned my head to the other side, where something had been deposited. And there was Chi, looking like she's been through hell. She was covered in bruises, dirt, and bloody scratches, and some of her clothing was torn.

"C-Crimson!" I exclaimed out loud, completely and utterly blowing my cover. But I didn't care. The sight in front of me was too horrendous. Chi groggily cracked one eye open.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Drocell commented, turning his head slightly to face us. Note that he turned just his head. His body still stayed right where it was, not budging an inch. The girl that had been beside me lay in front of him, on what seemed to be an operating table.

"W-what're you doing to us?" I asked. I still couldn't move very well, so I assumed it was his doing.

"Turning you into the perfect beings for my perfect ensemble, dolls." He responded in a monotonous voice.

"There is no way I'm letting myself become a doll!" Chi cried, attempting to get up. Well, she was certainly awake now…I had to agree, though. I rather like being what I am, you know.

"And why pick us, then? We're nothing special!" I asked, trying to dissuade him at the same time.

"You have a piece of the Hope Diamond, a symbol of my possession." He answered. Why do all beautiful things have to have some hidden evil? I sighed, glancing at my hand where my new ring was shining beautifully.

"So what? Why do you want to make some 'ensemble', anyway?" I asked.

"Five years ago, I lost my soul. And so I thought to myself: Why not try and get it back? That way, I can be truly free." He responded. I glanced at Chi.

"I think we'll need to return to the library, huh? That is, if you haven't gotten to his cinematic record yet." I told her.

"Maybe, but I have something we may be able to do first. I may've brought along some of those books to go, five to be exact, one per week and an extra…" Chi said sheepishly. I mentally facepalmed. Leave her to steal from a library. Honestly, how did they not notice? Are they blind? Don't answer that, actually…

"But what're the chances you have his with you?" I asked.

"Dunno," she shrugged, "let me check." She pulled out five books. "No, no, no, ah-hah! Jackpot! Drocell Keinz!" she cried, holding up the book victoriously. Wow, what a coincidence…Who knew her bad habits could come in handy someday?

"Well that was surprisingly convenient…" I muttered. Drocell was now coming towards us.

"What is that?" he asked, still monotone, but I could see a slight interest in his eyes.

"Pretty much your soul. But, I'll only give it to you if you promise to set us free." Chi said. A dark shadow flickered across Drocell's face for a moment. He mumbled something. "What was that? I couldn't hear you~!" Chi taunted.

"Fine. I shall lose two dolls, but in return, I will regain my soul." He said, louder. Chi nodded, satisfied, about to hand him the book, when I butted in.

"But we still need to collect your current soul, so use it to the best extent you can! Not to mention, I thought only Shinigami could use the cinematic records?"

"That's true…" Chi replied. Drocell abruptly turned towards to door to leave.

"We have guests." He said. Even though his voice was monotone, it still seemed so cold…

"Oh, no, I think we offended him, my friend!" I chirped. I noted that I could move again, much to my relief.

"Indeed. Shall we follow him?" Chi asked.

"We shall~!" I replied, following Chi out the door. Outside the door was a long hallway that spiraled around the building. I leaned over the railing, looking down as far as I could without falling. "We're so high up…" I begrudgingly admit, I am short. At 18 years old, and with only a 5' 1" stature, I'm not a tall person. So it stands to reason I like to elevate myself with heels and such. However, it also stands to reason that I don't like massive heights. Looking down was a massive height. Not pleasant. So, I retreated back to the hallway farther from the railing. Then, I returned, doubting what I'd seen down there. Grell was standing in the reception hall, a few floors below us, along with a young boy and another man…who was on a leash? The man on the leash barked. Chi and I instinctively scowled.

"Hellhound scum" Chi hissed.

"Wretched canine!" I added. I couldn't hear what was going on, but I saw that wretched doll lash out and grab the boy. Actually, it was a different doll from the one we met.

"I destroyed the other one." Chi answered my unasked question.

"Ah" I nodded. The Boy yelled something and Grell pulled out two pairs of scissors. He'd been demoted to the scissors after Will found out about the Jack the Ripper incident. That farmer was such a killjoy… When I looked back again, the doll was laying on the ground, sawdust spilling from the wounds inflicted by Grell's new death scythes. The young boy was gaping at the scene before him. Suddenly, the door in front of them opened, and Drocell stepped through.

"I see this doll was a failure." He declared. "And so I thought to myself, they need to be stronger, much stronger." He then began singing, his words ringing throughout the manor. "Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel, build it up with iron and steel, my fair lady." A stream of dolls came pouring out of the door behind him. Grell tried to cut them with his scissors, but nothing happened. The doll which he'd struck now had a ripped glove, but metal was visible, shining through the ripped cloth. Drocell somehow escaped into the hall below us. Chi and I descended a flight of stairs to be able to see what was going on. We heard Sebastian arrive downstairs, singing the same tune as Drocell.

"Iron and steel will bend and bow, bend and bow, bend and bow, iron and steel will bend and bow, my fair lady~" I could hear the dolls' metal necks snapping as he sand. Creepy. I returned my attention to where Drocell was sting of the railing at the sound of running footsteps approaching. It was the boy. He looked frustrated and lost. Suddenly, Drocell poke.

"Ciel Phantomhive, you are incredibly beautiful. Therefore, I will have to make you into a doll that befits such beauty. But what materials shall I use?" He said. Then, he began singing his accursed tune again. I should note that that song is really starting to creep my out now… "And so I thought to myself, build it up with silver and gold, silver and gold, silver and gold, build it up with silver and gold, my fair lady." Ciel's eyes widened and he started running, covering his ears. Drocell continued singing, pursuing him at a slow walk.

_I won't describe everything that happened, especially since we missed a lot. But in the end, that wretched New Demon 'killed' Drocell for a second time. However, before he 'died', he said something about termites falling out of his ears. Now, if he wasn't human? How'll we give him his soul back? Chi says we just keep it, but I think a deal's a deal. Besides, we all know it's my life's mission to make monotone, quiet, and mute people speak more, and more loudly, so I feel my goal is unfinished._

Chi and I stood over Drocell's fallen body. He wasn't dead yet, no, nowhere near dead. His soul still needed collecting. Chi and I touched the tips of out death scythes together and made a cut in Drocell's chest. I literally had to keep chanting in my head 'don't feel guilty, it's technically not his soul' to myself over and over. I watched as what seemed to be a movie film burst out from the wound we'd created. From Grell's story, I would've assumed it'd be much wilder and reluctant to be taken, but this cinematic record just submitted. Mayhaps he'd wanted to die? Well, no matter. The task was done within minutes, and Chi and I somberly left the manor. Once we were outside, the mood lightened considerably as Chi and I high-fived each other.

"Haha! Mission complete! Now we've got a few weeks to goof off!" Chi exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, but what about returning Drocell's soul to him?" I asked.

"We'll do that after we're officially Shinigami, when we're technically qualified for the job." She explained.

"Ah, okay then!" I smiled.

"Huh? What's this? Chi asked, picking up a flier off the ground. "Noah's Ark Circus" she read aloud. "Hey, didn't Snake say something about working for a circus?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah! Chi, we have to go! Maybe we'll see Scales~! And even if we don't, I've never been to a real live circus before~!" I exclaimed, eyes shining.

"Oh, all right…" Chi gave in.

_Haha, we're going to a circus~ I've never been to a circus before! I'm so excited, this'll be great!_

_~Shonan_

**A/N: What's this? Two updates in a day? Impossible! But true! This chapter was going to be longer, but it's already 7 pages long, so I cut it off. After this next chapter is my favorite chapter as of yet! I can't wait~!**


	8. Chapter 8

_Chi's Journal_

_Day 95_

_ I'm sitting here in the stands and the show starts in ten minutes, so I don't have too much time to write. Shonan and I are sitting about 10 rows from the front, pretty good seats if I do say so myself. We can see clearly, and we don't have to crane our necks to see the tightrope or trapeze. Contrary to popular belief, I'm pretty excited as well. It's a circus, for crying out loud! Who doesn't like circuses? Well, it'll be even better if this is Snake's circus, 'cause then we'll get to go backstage and meet the others! At least, if he keeps his promise from last time we met, three months ago. He's a pretty reliable person, though, so I'm not too worried. Oh, gotta go, the show's starting!_

I shut my journal and put it back in my pocket as the lights dimmed. Suddenly, a bright spotlight illuminated the center of the circus ring. A man, about 25 years old, I'd say, stood in the middle of the ring. He, like Drocell, had orange hair paired with purple eyes, but this man's hair was bleached at the tips. He had what seemed to be a blue drop painted underneath his left eye, and four piercings on each ear. He wore a black-and-white checkered shirt underneath a purple cape and yellow bow. He donned long shorts with diamonds on the seam, and boots reaching up to his knees. On his left hand, he had a white glove. His right was…a…skeletal hand? Holy shit, that's awesome. A skeleton-shaped prosthetic…If I didn't value my limbs, I'd ask if I could have one, as well…

"Ah, Chi, isn't that the guy that almost left without Snake?" Shonan whispered to me. Eh? I hadn't noticed at first, but upon closer inspection, it was! Hehe, mission control, we've found the target! The man introduced himself as Joker. He appeared to be the ringleader, especially as he introduced the other acts. You know, their stage names were pretty redundant…Beast is a beast tamer, Dagger is a dagger thrower, Jumbo is a huge fire breather, Doll is a dressed-up tightrope walker…Then, the name we were waiting for.

"…And Snake, the snake charmer!" Joker announced with a smile. Che, what a crowd-pleaser. Kinda funny, actually! Shonan let out a loud cheer that rose even above the cheers of the crowd. But just barely. I saw Snake tilt his head ever-so-slightly in her direction, a puzzled expression dawning on his face. One of his snakes hissed something, and he shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts, and focused.

Joker called up a volunteer about halfway through the show to participate in the beast-taming act. That poor lion… Joker called up a tall man. He had black hair, and red eyes. He was dressed in black trousers, a tailcoat, and a vest. A crest resided on his shirt cuffs and tie. I could faintly see a pocket watch sticking out of his pocket. It was that bloody New Demon, Sebastian. Before anyone could really process what was happening, he was over by the tiger, holding its head between his hands, praising it. Shonan looked horrified.

"That poor thing! Doesn't that bastard know now to hold a cat's head like that!? He's going to get-" The tiger suddenly had its jaws around Sebastian's head. I withheld a laugh. "…bitten…" Shonan finished also struggling not to laugh and stand out among everyone's horrified gasps, including the performers. The rest of the show passed really without any major occurrences, so I won't bore you with what happened.

After the show, I saw Joker approach Sebastian and lead him off somewhere, most likely backstage. I glanced around, and not seeing any audience, or anyone of interest, motioned to Shonan to follow Joker with me. He led the New Demon behind the tents, over to a tent that, from what we could hear outside the tent without actually going in, it was the doctor's tent. Some point during our little spy mission, Shonan drastically paled upon the sudden commotion. I sighed. Sebastian was 'unknowingly' being a perv again….And Beast's brother was freaking out about it… Joker exited the tent a while later, startling both Shonan and I, who were intently listening in. You know, for science and the such…nothing remotely creepy and stalker-ish at all…

"Who are you pretty ladies?" He asked after the three of us recovered from the surprise of 'and suddenly, people!' "And how much of that did you hear?" his expression maintained a smile, but radiated malice and a dark threat if we didn't answer correctly.

"Storm Whiston and Crimson Chattoway, at your service, sah!" Shonan chirped merrily.

"I can introduce myself!" I snapped lightheartedly. If she screws this up….we're dead. To my relief, Joker just chuckled.

"Well then, Storm, Crimson, why are you here? Fans of the show?" Joker inquired.

"Ye-" Shonan began, but I cut her off.

"The show was nice, but, unfortunately, that is not why we are here. We are part of the Shinigami Inspection Society. We have been assigned to make sure that you are treating your members well and that they have proper training. And what we just saw is alarming." I lied. White lies can get you quite far in life, if you use them well, that is.

"But we're not-" Shonan began.

"Hush, child." I silenced her. Joker looked vaguely alarmed.

"Well then, allow me to take you on a tour of the facilities, then…" Joker said. He seemed a bit nervous…

"This is where we train" he said, leading us into a tent. The performers were honing their skills, practicing like madmen. It was a bit chaotic, actually, with the knife-throwers near the trapeze artists, near the tightrope walkers…oh, the potential chaos… I nodded.

"Wow! Look at them all! That's amazing! How do they do that?" Shonan asked, eyes wide in fascination. Joker chuckled.

"It's all practice, with a pinch of talent thrown in there, as well." He answered good naturedly. Shonan looked like a kid in a candy store as she looked around the circus in awe. She suddenly yelped in surprise as a dagger went flying past her face, inches away from cutting her face. She whirled around, her short temper sparked, shaking her fist at the attacker, eyes full of malice.

"OI! Watch where you throw that thing, brat!" she yelled. A boy, about 15 or so, ran past her and picked up the dagger, then briskly bowing apologetically.

'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It flew off course…" he apologized. Joker ruffled his hair.

"Just be careful next time, okay?" The boy nodded and ran off. Joker showed us pretty much the rest of the circus after that. We ended up at the front of the circus without seeing any of the main members of the circus, the first tier, were they, or Snake. "Well, that's it! I hope your inspection went well!" he said cheerily.

"But…we haven't seen Snake at all yet…or the first tier…I wanted to see the fishies…" Shonan said sadly.

"That's a pier, not a tier, Storm. Get them right." I patronized.

"Oh, right, sorry, I knew that!" she said sheepishly. Joker frowned slightly.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't show you that. None of us like to go near Snake's tent, lest we get bitten, and the first tier are off limits to anyone who's not in it…"

"Oh…I see…" I said, slightly crestfallen. We ended up leaving the circus without seeing what we wanted to, how sad…at least we could find our way around, for the most part now…Shonan and I wandered the city for a while, getting to know London, before we stopped at a local pub to talk. It was pretty chilly outside, anyways, being the end of November and all…

"What're we gonna do, Chi?" Shonan asked me after the waitress gave us out=r drinks. Well, just me, really. Shonan has a vehement hate for anything alcoholic…poor thing doesn't know what she's missing!

"The next show's two days from now, on the 25th. We can go then?" I suggested, reading off the flier.

"That could work, but…what'll we do till then? We can't just go back to the Shinigami, we're supposed to be evaluating what happened….besides, I think they just wanted an excuse to get rid of us for a while…"

"Why, we'll tour the city, of course!"

_Day 97_

_ Today's the day! Time to go try and see "Mr. Snake" again! Can't wait to get out of this stupid inn….I swear it has fleas…_

This time, we were prepared. We had a plan. Wait till intermission, then go find Joker and ask to talk to Snake! Sounds simple, but oftentimes, simple is better. No complications, improvise if it fails. Easy, right?

_ I was wrong. Oh so sorely wrong. Things couldn't have gone worse. Everything went well…that is…until we found Joker…_

"What're you two still doing here? Didn't you inspect well enough last time?" I could sense the spite in his voice. Whoops…

"Well…that was kinda a lie…We just wanted to see Snake, you see? He's a friend of ours, and…" I tried to explain.

"Oh, then why didn't you say so earlier? There was no need to lie like that. If I remember correctly, your friend here almost lost her nose! Here, let me go tell him you're here. But I warn you…if you're lying…" he left the threat hanging.

"Don't worry, sir! We're perfectly honest people!" Shonan chirped. Ha, look who's talking! Joker eyed us carefully, searching for any sign of malicious intent before nodding and smiling.

"Okay then! Now, what were your names again?" he asked.

"Storm and Crimson, sir!" Shonan answered.

"Okay then, wait here for a moment while I find him, okay?" we nodded.

-Joker POV-

Those two were odd…Snake's a good person, but most people are either afraid of him or think he's weird…Not those two, they said they're his friends? As far as I know, Snake's only friends are us and his snakes…So that in itself is suspicious. Snake's been with us for quite some time, and I never saw him meet anyone…And then, randomly out of the blue, they burst in and say they're his friends? Odd…I saw Snake heading back to his tent for a short break and called over to him. He started, and then came over.

"Joker! Don't scare us like that! Says Bronte."

"Sorry…" I apologized sheepishly. "hey, there's some girls that want to talk to you. They said they're your friends?" I told him. Snake furrowed his brows, puzzled.

"What're their names? Asks Oscar."

"Storm and Crimson." Snake seemed even more puzzled. Stranger still, though, were his snakes' reactions. At first, they all seemed surprised. Then, One seemed oddly pleased and relieved. Some seemed concerned and nervous, and the others got fairly aggressive. I must be hallucinating, Snakes are simple animals. They can't have emotions, and they certainly can't understand humans…Snake shook his head.

"Sorry, never heard of them…says Emily." I knew it. Those two…lying, conniving bitches! They just wanted to get a sneak peak at the circus! They wanted to infiltrate and discover our secrets! They didn't care at all! The must've somehow discovered that Snake guards the first tier tents, and wanted to try and seduce Snake to get into the first tier! That's the only possible explanation! I didn't care even if it _was_ intermission! As soon as I saw them, I kicked them out of the circus, hopefully for good.

-End Joker POV-

How rude! How dare he kick us out! Even worse, Snake said he didn't know us? Didn't he at least, oh, I don't know, recognize our names? Something's going on…I voiced my agitated thoughts to Shonan.

"Maybe he just needs to see us? He may've forgotten our names, but at least we have the guarantee that our appearances are less than normal…" Shonan suggested.

"Maybe…"

_Day 99_

_ This has to work. This is the last show in London the Noah's Ark Circus will have for a long time…And this time, we're going straight to Snake's tent at the end of intermission. No Joker, he'd probably just kick us out again. Oh, the show's starting…I'd better go…_

The lights dimmed and I sighed. The circus was great the first two times, but now it was a bit redundant, tiring almost. Shonan and I were sitting in the very back this time, drowned in shadow, to avoid being seen by Joker. I zoned out, and by the time I refocused, it was intermission.

"Chi, let's go!" Shonan whispered, tugging on my sleeve.

"Okay, okay! Calm down!" I said. We hid behind a second tier member's tent, keeping Snake's tent in sight. Two minutes into the intermission, Snake entered his tent, and only left with five minutes left in intermission. This part, the second half of the show, is where Snake's main act took place. He would only return after the show, so Shonan and I entered after intermission ended. We seated ourselves at the table in the middle of the tent. Shonan shifted uncomfortably in her chair across from me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The scent of snake wafts through the room, like polluted air, assaulting our noses and poisoning us with its vile, stale malodorous stench…." She muttered. Well, it was true that the air was thick with the smell of snake, so much so that you could cut it with a knife, but it wasn't _that_ bad…once you get used to it…"Plus, I feel like we're intruding…"

"Don't worry, we're fine. We're Snake's friends, he'll understand. We can make ourselves at home here." I reassured her, taking a deck of cards from my pocket.

_ So now we wait. Snake's gotta recognize us, right?_

_~Chi_

**A/N: well sorry for the delay, I got a really bad case of writer's block...On another note, I've noticed that my amount of readers has been steadily decresing for some reason...is there something I'm doing wrong? If so, please tell me so I can fix it!**

**Chapter 9 will probally be up shortly, as well. it's my favorite so far, and is already fully written out; I juse need to type it out now!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Snake's Log_

_…_

I pushed aside my tent's flap. I'm glad we're finally done in London, my friends and I can only stand so much in one city. Besides, we can't even wander around; if we do, people stare at us and whisper behind our backs, making us very uncomfortable. Wordsworth hissed, bringing me back to reality. In front of me, sitting at my table playing cards, were two strange girls. One with blue hair, the other with red. I narrowed my eyes.

"Who are you? Asks Wordsworth." I asked.  
"Huh? You don't recognize us?" the girl with blue hair asked, looking fairly confused. Emily hissed at her, making her flinch.  
"No, I don't recall seeing you before. Says Emily. But I should warn you, my venom can kill a person in just 30 seconds, so get out of my tent. Says Wilde." The girl's eyes widened and she hid behind her friend, who narrowed her eyes.

"T-they're poisonous?" she squeaked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. I paused. She was scared even before she knew my friends were venomous? Goethe hissed a warning.  
"You never answered our question. Says Goethe. Who are you?" This time, the redhead spoke.  
"I'm Crimson, and the coward behind me is Storm." she answered boldly. "I can't believe you don't recognize us. And where's Dan? Don't you usually have nine snakes with you? I only count eight right now." she asked. I stiffened. How did she know Dan? Moreover, how did she know he wasn't here? No one else noticed, not even anyone in the first tier...this girl was the first to notice. My other snakes seemed just as stunned. I narrowed my eyes.  
"How do you know Dan?" I asked. Just then, as i was about to let Keats and Oscar, who were dying to get rid of the girls, attack them, Dan slithered into the tent.  
"Sstop!" he exclaimed. I hesitated. "They're not lying, we really do know them!" But it couldn't be, I'd never seen those two in my life!  
"Does the word Shinigami mean anything to you, Scales?" the blue-haired one asked, though it seemed to take all of her courage to do so. My head suddenly pounded, and images flashed through my mind. Who were these people? I held my head, attempting to stop the pain and throbbing in my head. My snakes seemed uncomfortable, as well, with the exception of Dan, almost guilty, even. That name...it seemed too familiar...but...where've I heard it before?  
"Don't lissten to their gamess, masster! They only wissh to confusse you! Sshouldn't you be more concerned that they're in our tent? They could eassily attack the firsst tier members from here!" Emily hissed. Something in her voice sounded sinister, but I let it pass. She was right. I took a minute to clear my head.  
"No matter, come with us. Says Emily," I paraphrased, taking their wrists. Storm's eyes widened in fear when Oscar hissed, going towards her.

"C-could you at least tell the snakes to keep away from me, please?" she asked.  
"The least you could do is treat your friends half-decently!" Crimson snapped. "I didn't think you were this kind of person, Snake!"  
"You're no friends of ours. Says Oliver." Storm and Crimson's eyes widened, but for what seemed to be different reasons. Storm's widened in shock, Crimson's in understanding.  
"The paperwork...that bastard of a director..." she muttered. "More work for us, then..." Ignoring her rambling, I took the two to Joker.  
"We found these two in our tent. Says Keats. Care to explain? Asks Bronte." I translated, throwing the two in front of me. Joker seemed to recognize them, but seemed surprised.

"You two!" he exclaimed, anger apparent in his tone.  
"Us two." Storm spat with contempt. What happened to her dreadful fear from just mere moments ago? Crimson seemed to think the same thing and grinned evilly, leaning close to Storm's ear.  
"Hiss." Storm jumped at least a foot or two into the air, startled. She spun around, furious.  
"Don't do that!" she cried. Crimson just laughed. Surprisingly, I caught myself smiling as well, before I regained my composure.

_Joker banished the two from the circus, despite Dan's protests. I couldn't help but feel the slightest sense of guilt. Couldn't figure out why, though. All I knew was that something was wrong. My snakes are normally calm, and keep a neutral opinion of people. However, none of them but Dan seemed to like the girls. Something happened, I was sure of it, but for some reason, I couldn't remember anything within the week in which I'd disappeared from the circus. It was like a large chunk of my memory was gone. That girl, Storm, had called me Scales...it had seemed to trigger some form of...memories? This whole thing was confusing me. Since Dan seems to be the only one whose judgment wasn't clouded by hate, and maybe even something else, I'll speak to him later._

...The tale Dan just told seems surreal...how could this be possible? How could I forget important things like that?  
"Snake! Stop lounging around and help us over here!" Beast snapped, moving a large box. The circus was pacing up, ready to leave soon. I got up, picking Dan up, then returning to my tent to get the others.  
"We're going on a little...adventure." I warned them, picking them up before they could protest.

_I wandered through the city and searched within a 100 meter radius of where Joker had left the two girls. I wanted to apologize to them, explain the situation as I understood it, and maybe even get my memory back. I knew I had only about two hours before the circus left, so I had to hurry._

I was hungry, tired, and ready to give up my search. An hour and 45 minutes had passed since I'd begun searching, and I hadn't made any progress. I'd even sent my snakes to go and help find them, but only Dan ever came back. I assumed everyone else was hiding or relaxing nearby, and would come if I needed their help. I sat down on a bench in the park, about to give up all hope of finding them, when I heard something. I listened closer. So my ears hadn't deceived me! Moments later, the two girls entered my field of view. Storm seemed somber, and Crimson was trying to cheer her up. All of a sudden, her eyes and mine met.  
"Snake!"

It was chaos. All at once, Emily, Keats, Oscar, and Bronte leaped at Storm from behind the bushes. Emily managed to somehow bite Storm, making both the girls cry out. "Shonan!" Crimson cried in distress, running to Storm's side.

"Who? Asks Dan." I asked, not sure if I had heard correctly amidst the confusion.

"Ah, just a pet name! Nickname! Now get over here and help, they're your snakes, so control them!" Crimson snapped.

"A-ah, yes, right away!" I cried, rushing to Storm's side to help. "Where did Emily bite her?" Asks Dan." I asked urgently.

"The forearm." Crimson responded. I looked, and sure enough, two fang marks were clearly visible due to the rips in Storm's sleeve and the blood slowly seeping out from the puncture wounds. I applied pressure to the wound to at least try to slow the flow of the poison through her veins. Maybe a bit too much, though, judging by Storm's wince when I got there. I was surprised when, a minute later, I was still sensing Storm's breathing, faint as it was. I could just barely detect it, but it was there.

"How is she still-" I began.  
"Alive? That doesn't matter right now. She won't exactly die from the poison, but she'll get pretty damn close, so we need to heal her as quickly as we can. And we can't, under any circumstance, let her fall into a coma, or she may never wake up..." Crimson stated grimly. I nodded, still confused, but understanding.  
"There's an antidote in the tent. Says Dan. Let's get her there as quickly as possible. Says Goethe." I gathered all of my snakes and helped Crimson take a now unconscious Storm to my tent.

"Snake! What're you still doing here!?" Doll exclaimed upon seeing me. 'We're about to leave!"  
"...I'm afraid I can't come with you. Says Dan."  
"Why not?"  
"Emily got out of control and attacked a friend of ours, and it'd weigh heavily on our consciences, rendering us unable to perform. Says Goethe."  
"That girl is no friend of mine." Emily hissed vehemently. Well, that was worrying...  
"Oh dear..." Doll looked torn, biting her lip, but upon seeing Storm's near-death condition, surrendered. "Oh, very well then, I'll tell the others, but they won't be happy about it..."  
"Thank you, Doll." I breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, they always left me to pack up my own tent, so everything, including the antidote, was still there. "I'm glad she's still alive...Says Dan"  
"Yeah, well the resst of uss aren't..." Oscar mumbled.

"Yeah, but it's not over yet. She may be alive physically, but mentally is a whole new war...a whole different story..." Crimson stated morosely. And the worst part was that I knew she was right.

_ What am I going to do? It seems that only Dan and Goethe don't have some sort of grudge against the girls, particularly Storm...I'm afraid to know what they'd try next time...Though it leaves the question as to why the others, especially Oscar, Emily, and Bronte, hate them so much...Maybe it's lack of attention? No, they're not that petty...are they?_  
_~Snake_

**A/N: Special chapter!~ It's a bit short, I know, but...I hope you like it! So, should I add more Snake POVs throughout the story? Yes? No? Maybe so? Anywho, tell me what you think!**

**On another note, I know I said it'd be up shortly, but I got a (not so) unexpected fever last wekk, not to mention we had the state standardized tests, and then this week the fever went away, but all other aspects of my cold worsened...so...sorry^^;**


End file.
